Girl On Fire, Who's Your Desire?
by belladonnablush
Summary: Katniss knew the magic Peeta's hands could do in the bakery, but an argument with Gale makes her realize she is in love with the baker & wants his hands on her. But loving Peeta has costly consequences for herself & others in her life, including Gale. A tale of decisions & repercussions, love & loss, romance & lemons, action & angst. Katniss/Peeta, w/ some Katniss/Gale situations.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the fabulous characters associated with it. All credit goes to Suzanne Collins. This is for entertainment only! **

**Also, this is the first story that I ever wrote after I discovered fanfiction, so please be kind! Thanks for reading, and I hope you like it.**

Katniss sat as still as stone, crouched down low in the brush next to Gale, watching her prey and waiting to take her shot. Even though she had plenty of money now from winning the Hunger Games to buy all the meat she wanted in town, she still went hunting every week with him. He had been her best friend for years, her confidante. He knew how hard life had been for her before the reaping for the games... before her life had been turned upside down and everything changed.

Since she'd come back from the Victory Tour with Peeta, her relationship with Gale seemed strained. Being together used to be as easy as breathing, but now, it felt like it was an effort to find things to talk about. Their lives just weren't the same as they used to be. They didn't have as much in common anymore. Katniss was a celebrity- even though she didn't want to be- and he was still just Gale Hawthorne, the hunter from District 12. And then of course, there was Peeta, who was the complete opposite of Gale. She felt a smile begin to form on her lips at just the thought of him, but she forced it away so Gale wouldn't see. Katniss sighed as she tried to clear her head and focus on what she was doing .

Just as she steadied her arrow and pulled back her bow, Gale whispered sharply, "Take the shot, Katniss! What the hell are you waiting for?"

Gale's interruption broke whatever semblance of concentration she'd had, causing her arrow to miss by two feet, and the animal to scurry away.

Katniss stood up in a flash, totally irritated. "What the fuck, Gale!"

"Really? Me?" he asked, towering over her as he stood up next to her. "I think the question is more like, what is going on with_ you! _A few months ago, the Katniss I used to know could have taken that shot with her eyes closed!'

"Yeah, well, a lot's happened to the 'Katniss you used to know', in case you've forgotten! You'll have to forgive me if my mind isn't always focused on making the kill anymore! Isn't it enough that I'm here with you right now?"

Gale's face softened, just a little. "It would be, if that were true."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Gale took a step back, leaned against a tree, tossed his bow down, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Even when you're here with me, you're really still with _him_. You're a million miles away, your eyes are distant. Sometimes it's like I don't even know you anymore."

"Don't blame Peeta, it's not his fault. We got thrown into the games together, remember? We didn't choose it. All he's ever done is try to help me."

"Yeah," Gale chuckled to himself sarcastically. "He _sure_ has been helpful, professing his love for you on national TV and all... I guess we all know that you were his only hope of staying alive in that arena. Without you to protect him and show him how to win the game, your sweet little baker boy had about zero chance of survival, and he certainly wouldn't be living in that fancy house next to yours in the Victor's Village right now, would he?"

Katniss glared at Gale, and she felt her face getting flushed with anger.

Gale slowly moved towards her until he was standing just inches from her face, his gray eyes staring at her. "So tell me, Katniss, what exactly has he done to help you so much? You mean the little 'sleepovers' you guys have all the time?"

Before she could stop it, a look of surprise flashed across her face for just an instant.

Gale smirked and continued, "Yeah, I know about that. I may not live in your fancy little private neighborhood, but word still gets around. I know that the two of you spend most of your nights together."

She swallowed dryly. The truth was that they _did _share a bed frequently, but it was because Peeta couldn't bear to hear her screaming during her nightmares about the games. He would hold her, making her feel safe until the morning light. But she couldn't tell that to Gale, he would never understand such weakness on her part, nor could he ever comprehend the depths of Peeta's compassion.

"Yeah, well, it's not what you think. Remember, we were sort of forced to get engaged on the victory tour? We have to keep up appearances if we want to protect our families from the government!"

"Oh, right! Of course!" Gale said sarcastically. "And I almost forgot to congratulate you."

"Shut up Gale, you don't understand!"

"You're right! So make me understand! Tell me, what is so great about Peeta Mellark?"

_More than you could ever know,_ she thought to herself.

Instead, she simply replied, "Just drop it Gale. I don't want to argue with you. I'll see you next week. I'm going home." She picked up her bow and started to walk away.

He followed after her. "You mean you're going home _to him_!"

She kept walking, sighing "Goodbye, Gale!" without even turning around.

The hunter stopped in his tracks, and with venom in his voice, he yelled to her. "Are you _fucking _him, Katniss?"

Now she was pissed. Best friend or not, he had just crossed the line. She whipped her head around and glared at Gale. "Not yet! But I will be!"


	2. Chapter 2

Katniss walked as fast as she could away from Gale. Behind her, she heard a crack as he kicked a tree in anger. She felt a little guilty because she hadn't meant to hurt Gale, but more than that, she was surprised by her own admission that she wanted Peeta. Wanted him badly.

She had been fighting her growing feelings for months, convincing herself that the warmth she felt whenever he held her was just comfort, but the truth was that it was much more than that. Peeta was sweet, reliable, always there for her. He never judged her. He was the only person who really understood the damage the Games had done to her, because it had been done to him too.

Night after night, he would appear in her bedroom when her night terrors began, or sometimes when she felt so paralyzed by her fear that she knew sleep was going to be impossible, she would walk next door to his house in the dark in her nightgown, tiptoe to his room and crawl into bed with him. And he always welcomed her with open arms. In those moments, they didn't even need to speak. He would simply spoon his body around her, one arm under her neck and the other arm wrapped around her waist, making her feel protected from all the demons in her memory.

This had been going on ever since they won those wretched games. She knew that Peeta loved her, wanted her. Yet in all these months, he had never tried to be more intimate with her than a kiss or a caress. He understood that she wasn't yet ready to love him. But, Katniss realized, she was ready now.

The more she thought about Peeta, the faster she walked towards home. She suddenly missed him so much it hurt. She wanted to run into his arms and tell him that she loved him. She looked up at the warm summer sun, getting higher in the sky as it approached noontime. If she hurried, she could clean up and see Peeta for his lunch hour. She stashed her bow back in its hiding place and sprinted the last distance between the woods and her house. She ran inside, stripped off her dirty hunting clothes and jumped in the shower. She had to admit, of all the conveniences of living in the Victor's Village, hot running water with a bathtub and shower was definitely her favorite. She scrubbed herself clean of the woods- and of her argument with Gale. She made a mental note that she would have to deal with that later. But not today. She finished in the shower and dried herself off. She rebraided her hair and put on a simple halter sundress.

She went outside and started walking next door to Mellark's Bakery. After Peeta got his money from winning the Hunger Games, he'd told his parents to retire and he took over running the bakery. His parents stayed in their house on the outskirts of town, and Peeta decided to close their old, run down shop and build a new one attached to his house in the Village. He could have just retired too, and enjoyed his new celebrity status as a victor, but that wasn't his style. He enjoyed his work as a baker. He liked to stay busy, and he enjoyed talking to all the townspeople who came into to the bakery to buy his famous breads and pastries.

Katniss stopped outside the bakery and just stood there, looking in the window at him. She could see him in the kitchen, just behind the counter, making bread. He had on a white apron, which was covered in flour and smears of frosting. The sleeves of his button down shirt were rolled way up, not only to keep from getting dirty, but also because between the ovens and the summer sun, it was getting hot in the bakery.

She loved to watch him work. She had kept him company, watching him work a hundred times before, since he opened his new shop next door. But today, as she stood outside staring at him, she wondered, _how had she never really seen him before?_

She saw him now, as if for the first time.

Peeta Mellark was so fucking hot.

She moved closer to the window for a better view. He was kneading bread dough. The muscles in his arms flexed each time he kneaded, pulled and stretched the thick, sticky dough. He had just the slightest sheen of sweat along his blond hairline on his forehead, from the heat and the hard work he was doing. She was mesmerized watching his strong hands at work.

She had seen the amazing transformations Peeta could do with those hands in the bakery... how he could knead that heavy dough until it made beautiful, chewy bread, or how those same hands could do the delicate work of decorating cakes and cookies, forming fondant and frosting into flowers and butterflies so lifelike, you'd swear that they would float away on the breeze if you touched them.

Suddenly, Katniss wanted those talented hands all over her body. She could only imagine what kind of sinful pleasures he was capable of bringing her... the things that he'd be able to do with those hands... and she couldn't wait any longer to find out.


	3. Chapter 3

Katniss watched through the bakery window as Peeta finished kneading the bread dough, put it into baking pans and covered it with a cloth to let it rise. She thought to herself, _I wonder what else I could get to rise in Mellark's Bakery... _then she blushed at her own naughty thought. She had a flashback to some of the nights they'd shared together in bed. Sometimes as they lay spooned together in the dark, Katniss could feel his erection through his pajama pants, pressed up against her backside. She would know that he was awake and that he wanted so badly to move his hand that was resting on her stomach and move it up to caress her breasts, but he never did. He always waited patiently, silently in the dark for her permission to explore her, but she was always too nervous to grant it.

But today would be different. She didn't know exactly what had caused her desire to awaken. Maybe her argument with Gale had finally opened her eyes to how lucky she was to have Peeta. Whatever it was, she was glad that it happened, and she hoped Peeta would be too.

She knocked on the glass of the bakery window. Peeta looked up from behind the counter and beamed her a huge smile. Her heart fluttered. He waved and gestured for her to come in. He was at the sink, washing the flour and dough off his hands as she walked in the door. He grabbed a towel and dried them as he walked towards her and embraced her in a hug.

"Back from hunting so soon?" he asked.

"Yeah, I didn't really feel like hunting today." She replied. She left out the fact that she had argued with Gale about him. Then she added coyly, "And maybe I missed you a little, too."

Peeta smiled that beautiful warm smile that made his blue eyes sparkle. "Lucky for me!"

She leaned into his embrace and gave him a quick, soft kiss on the lips. "Can you close up the shop for lunch now? Or is it too soon?"

Peeta glanced at his watch. "Sure, it's just about that time anyway. Besides, I can do whatever I want, it's my shop, remember?" he asked playfully.

She grinned and nodded, as he let go of her, walked over to the front door of the bakery, turned the sign to closed, and locked the door.

"So..." he said as he walked back to her, untying the apron at his waist. "did you have something in mind that you wanted to do today?"

"Mmm-hmm.." she nodded, as she grabbed the apron out of his hands and tossed it aside. She took both his hands in hers, and locked eyes. "You, Peeta. I want you to make love to me."


	4. Chapter 4

In the span of one second, Katniss saw a hundred emotions flash across Peeta's handsome face- shock, joy, excitement, nervousness, desire. "What... right now?" he asked.

"Yeah, now..." she replied softly. "Unless of course, you would rather just have lunch..."

He wondered what had brought on her sudden change of heart, but didn't dare ask.

"You know there is nothing in the world that I am hungrier for than you." he whispered huskily.

As she moved her own face closer to his, she noticed that he had a small smear of frosting along his jawline, where earlier in the day he must have swiped his hand across his face to wipe away a bead of sweat.

"You have frosting on you..." she whispered, as she closed the distance and softly ran her tongue along the edge of his jaw, enjoying the sugary frosting along with the taste of his warm skin. Then she traced her tongue down the side of his neck and kissed his throat, where she could feel his pulse pounding.

She brought her mouth up next to his ear and playfully sucked on his earlobe for a moment.

_Damn, _Peeta thought to himself, _she has no idea how intoxicating she is to me._

He felt her breath, warm in his ear, causing him to feel dizzy and weak in the knees. He was _so _turned on right now, he could hardly stand it.

She whispered in his ear, "Shall we go into the house?"

He couldn't even find his voice to speak, so he just nodded wordlessly. He took her hand and led her through the back door of the bakery into his house. Right at this moment, all he could think was how thankful he was that his bakery was attached to his house, because it would have been awfully embarrassing to walk across town with the huge bulge that had appeared in the front of his pants.


	5. Chapter 5

He led her up the stairs and into the master bedroom. He knew that she would feel comfortable here, having spent so many nights sleeping in his bed. All those nights, when he held her, comforted her, and longed to make love to her. He wanted to fill her nights with pleasure and bliss, so she would look forward to the darkness rather than fearing it... and maybe then, he hoped, her nightmares would finally stop.

She paused at the foot of the bed. Peeta stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. He leaned in and kissed her neck. "You are so beautiful, Katniss."

She smiled and blushed a little, intertwining her fingers with his.

He softly asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She whispered "Yes, I'm sure. I want you more than anything, Peeta."

He brought his hands from her waist up to the back of her neck where the straps of her sundress were tied in a bow. He gently pulled at the ends of the bow, until the knot let go, and the front of her dress fell away, revealing her breasts. He could see their bodies reflected in the mirror over his dresser. She had her eyes closed, head leaning back on Peeta's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her again. He was taken by surprise when Katniss reached for both of his hands and moved them up to cup her breasts. They were warm and soft, as he gently rubbed and massaged them, and felt her nipples hardening under his touch.

He was so hungry for her. He wanted to see more. He released his grasp on her breasts and brought his hands down to the zipper on the back of her dress. He slid it down and the dress dropped to the floor.

She turned around and faced him, now wearing nothing but her panties. She grabbed his shirt with both hands to pull him against her and she kissed him fiercely. Peeta willingly allowed her tongue entry into his mouth, which she explored ravenously. Then she sucked on his beautiful, almost pouty bottom lip that she found so sexy.

Suddenly she pulled herself away from their passionate kiss and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"You are overdressed, Mellark..." she said, hoping that he couldn't tell how nervous she was despite her bravado. She'd never been sexual with anyone else before now, but she had certainly overheard plenty of explicit details from the other girls at school about what they did with the boys who hung out at the slag heap at night, so she just hoped that she'd be able to do it right. She couldn't wait to get Peeta undressed and explore his muscular body that filled out his baker's apron so well.

Peeta eagerly helped her undo the buttons on his shirt as quickly as he could and tossed it onto the bed. Then she knelt before him and started working on the belt and zipper of his pants. She pulled down the pants, and then his boxers, and Peeta kicked them aside. She found herself at eye level with his very hard manhood. She wrapped her hand around him, and started to stroke him up and down. She decided that she liked the feel of it in her hand. She could hardly wait to find out how good he would feel inside of her. She looked up at Peeta after a moan escaped his lips. Apparently he was enjoying her hand and much as she was enjoying pleasuring him.

For a moment, she let go of him. "Peeta, sit down on the bed." she commanded, and he obeyed.

"Watch me." she told him, as she leaned in between his legs, returned her soft hand to his hard dick, and lowered her mouth onto it.

_Holy Fuck!_ Peeta silently screamed inside his head. He watched Katniss as she kissed and sucked and licked all along his length. Every now and then she would glance up at him with an evil grin, meeting his blue eyes that were now dark and smoldering with lust for her. She knew she had all the power in the world over him right now, and he was more than willing to surrender it to her. He had his hands tangled in her long dark hair, which had come loose from the braid she'd had in it earlier. He was trying so hard not to pull her head down further, but he couldn't help it. He kept thrusting his hips in rhythm to her deep throating him.

"Oh my God, Katniss..." he moaned. "That feels _so_ damn good... mmmm..."

With his compliment, she started to suck even harder and faster. Just hearing his moans and sighs was causing her to feel wet between her own legs.

He took a ragged breath and forced himself to say "...But I think you better stop, if you want me to last long enough for us to have sex before I have to get back to work..."

She reluctantly pulled her mouth away. "Hmm, well I _definitely_ do want that," she purred. "I guess we'll just have to practice this some more later..."

Peeta sighed, and extended his hand to her, to help her up from kneeling. "Come here, baby. Come lie on the bed with me."

She joined him on the bed and reclined onto her back. Peeta shimmied her pink panties down her legs and dropped them on the floor. He lay down alongside her, running his hand up her thigh, over her nearly flat stomach, then up to her chest. He cupped one of her lovely breasts in his hand and brought his mouth down to meet her nipple. He sucked gently, moved his tongue all around it. He felt it get hard in his mouth. Then he removed his hand from her breast and trailed it back down across her belly and made his way downward. She parted her legs slightly for him. She already felt so warm and wet. He ran his finger along her slick folds of flesh, and she shuddered. Over and over, he stroked his fingers across her most sensitive spot, teasing her with his gentle touch.

She had known that the baker's hands could work magic, but the way he way making her feel right now was beyond her wildest dreams. She arched her back in response to the shivers he was sending up her spine. Her breath got quicker, her mouth dropped open. He slid a finger inside her, and rubbed her from the inside, feeling her wetness.

He wanted _so _badly to taste her right now, to tease her with his tongue, but he knew they were running out of time. He didn't dare look at the clock because he never wanted this moment to end. He promised himself that tonight, when they had the whole night ahead of them, he would taste her and show her just how good she had made him feel when she was pleasuring him with her beautiful mouth.

"Katniss, do you feel like you're ready?" he asked.

"Oh yes, Peeta," she replied. "So ready."

He reached over to his nightstand to get protection. "I know you don't want to get pregnant, so..."

She smiled gratefully. That was her Peeta, always knew the right thing to do. She wished that _she _had thought about protection, since she was the one so adamant about never having any children that would one day have to face the reaping for the games.

He positioned himself above her, and found her entrance. He moved in slowly, gently, giving her time to adjust to his size. Each time she became relaxed, he would thrust in just a little further, until finally he was all the way inside of her.

She smiled up at him, and he thought she had never looked so beautiful in her life... cheeks flushed, eyes dark and dilated, her whole face glowing with adoration of the blond boy gazing down at her. He kissed her lips, then began slowly thrusting in and out of her. After a few minutes, their pace began to quicken, become more urgent. She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts, sometimes even digging her fingernails into his back. She was loving the way he felt inside of her, the warmth of his hands on her skin, the heat of his breath on the side of her neck as he moaned her name.

He, too, was lost in ecstasy. Just the sound of her whimpering and sighing, along with the sight of his lover with her head tilted back, eyes closed, with a dreamy spellbound smile on her parted lips, was driving him insane. He wished fiercely that he could watch her reach her climax. Then he had an idea...

Peeta paused for a moment and pulled himself out of her.

"Why are you stopping, Peeta?" she asked breathlessly. "Is everything okay?"

"Definitely more than okay." he assured her. "I just want to change position a bit, if that's alright with you..."

"Of course, as long as you come back to me," she teased.

He simply answered her with a smile.

Peeta moved himself backwards until he could step off the end of the bed and stand up. Then he reached out for Katniss and pulled her towards him, so that her hips were right at the edge of the mattress. He gently reclined her back again and pulled the pillow under her head so she would be comfortable. He stepped up close to her, took one of her ankles in each of his hands, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I want to be able to see you, Katniss..."

He moved his hands up to her hips and slid himself inside of her once again. That spellbound smile returned to her mouth.

_Ohh, this is perfect.._ Peeta thought to himself. Now he was able to move his hands freely over her body, and he could watch her react to his touch. He could trace his fingers down her navel and see her shudder. Every time he slid into her, her breasts moved and jiggled, and that made him even more aroused. He held onto her hips so he could thrust deeper, and he could see the change in her as her excitement was building. Her body was getting more tense, her breathing more rapid. She had turned her head sideways, and had brought her arms up next to her head, firmly grasping the pillow with both hands.

He continued to hold her hip with his left hand, but moved his right hand down to her wet center and began stroking her most sensitive spot with his fingers. She gasped and he could feel her inner walls quiver.

_She likes that... _he noted. He could tell she was getting close, so he kept his fingers there, touching and teasing her, while at the same time thrusting deeply into her. He was getting so excited by her that he started to wonder how much longer he could last before he reached his own climax. He watched her eagerly as her body tensed up one last time...

Suddenly, she moaned loudly, "Oh God, Peeta, don't stop what you're doing... so close...ahhh... ahhh...keep rubbing me there Peeta!"

He happily obliged, and then he saw the waves of orgasm crash over her as she came, her muscles twitching in spasms of ecstasy. At that point, he lost all control and felt his own release as he came into her. It shook his whole body and took his breath away.

He had fantasized many times about making love with Katniss, but this was _sooo_ much better than he ever could have imagined. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. She was gazing up at him, looking very satisfied and trying to catch her breath.

"Oh my God, Peeta, that was amazing!" she sighed.

"Yes it was," he agreed as he slid himself out of her and climbed back up onto the bed next to her. "I could die a _very _happy man right now!"

"Well I hope you don't die anytime soon, because I'm looking forward to doing a lot more of that." she said as she snuggled up to his body, still damp with sweat.

They lay together like that, bodies entwined, for several minutes as their pulses gradually came back down to normal.

Katniss spoke and broke the silence. "I love you so much, Peeta."

That was the first time that she had ever admitted it to him out loud. He took her face in both his hands and kissed her. He had waited _years _to hear her say those words.

"I love you too," he replied. "You have no idea how much I wish I could stay right here with you all day and just savor this moment."

"You have to get back to work soon, don't you?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I really need to. But you are welcome to stay here and take a nap if you want to."

A nap did sound pretty good to her right about now.

"I have to take a quick shower," Peeta said. "I would invite you to join me, but I'd never get back to work!"

She giggled. "Well, maybe we can try that later!"

"I promise you, love, we will try _lots_ of fun stuff later tonight." he said to her, as he pulled the blanket up over her, gave her one last kiss on the forehead, and made his way into the bathroom to shower.

A few minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom, smelling of soap. He put on a clean shirt and pants from the closet, and tied a fresh white apron around his waist. He sat on the bed next to her to put on his shoes.

"I _really _hate to leave you, but if I don't get down there and get the bread in the oven, it will never be ready in time for my orders this afternoon." he said. "But I would like to thank you for the _best_ lunch date I've ever had!" He grinned at her and lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.

"Will you come over to my house tonight after you close up?" she asked.

"If you want me there, I'll be there!" he replied.

"Oh, I'll definitely want you..." she teased, eyes sparkling.

He groaned as he got up from the bed to head back to the bakery.

"You're killing me!" he told her. "I'll see you in a few hours. Love you."

"Love you too..." she said dreamily, with heavy eyes, as she snuggled into Peeta's pillow. It smelled faintly of him, and she found it comforting. She drifted off to a peaceful sleep, happier than she'd ever felt.


	6. Chapter 6

When she woke from her nap, it was late afternoon, and the sun was streaming in the bedroom window. She was confused for a moment, until she looked around and remembered that she was in Peeta's bed. As she yawned and stretched, the slight soreness between her legs reminded her of what they'd done in that bed just a couple of hours ago. She smiled to herself, still basking in her bliss from before. She didn't really want to get out of his bed, but she figured she probably should. Peeta would be finishing up in the bakery in just a couple of hours, and she had some things that she wanted to get done at her house before he came over for the night. Besides, she knew that she could use another shower. She gathered up her clothes, got dressed and headed next door to her own house.

When they had been given their choice of houses in the Victor's Village after winning the Games, Katniss said she wanted whichever house was closest to the woods, because that was where she felt at home, where she belonged. Peeta naturally said he wanted whichever house was closest to hers. So, she had chosen a house that was tucked up close to the treeline and surrounded on three sides by woods. She had plenty of privacy, and lots of trees around her. It felt quiet and serene, and she liked that. Peeta lived right next door, which was just a very short walk. Haymitch lived down the street. He preferred solitude over socializing, so they didn't see him very often.

Katniss' house had a big bedroom upstairs just like Peeta's did, which was supposed to be the master bedroom. When she first moved in, she had used the upstairs bedroom, but she quickly realized that being up near the treetops where she could hear the mockingjays singing every morning, reminded her of her friend Rue, who had been killed during the Hunger Games and it made her sad. So, she moved down to the first floor bedroom, and that seemed like a better fit for her.

When she got home from Peeta's, she first took a shower, and then decided to change the sheets on her bed and freshen up her bedroom a little before he came over after work. The afternoon was gorgeous, so she opened all the windows in her house to let in the slight breeze.

Sometimes when her windows were open like this, she could smell the delicious scents of fresh baked breads and cakes coming from Peeta's bakery next door, and it always made her hungry. Right now, she was more hungry for the baker than the bread.

By the time Peeta finished up his work and got to her house, it was getting to be early evening, and the sky was just starting to get dusky.

"I brought you something," he told her as he greeted her with a hug and a kiss.

He handed her a box from his bakery. Inside it was a small cake, just big enough for the two of them to share for dessert. It was chocolate- her favorite- frosted with white buttercream and covered in pastel wildflowers that he had formed by hand out of white chocolate. This was the kind of work he usually did for very special occasions, like wedding cakes.

"It's to celebrate the first day of our new relationship," he explained.

"Oh, Peeta, it's so beautiful, I don't even want to eat it!"

He laughed at her. "Don't be silly! It's only chocolate, of course you should eat it! It's not like you're destroying a priceless work of art!"

Well, to her it was priceless. She didn't know what she had ever done to deserve someone as amazing and thoughtful as Peeta, but she realized now just how lucky she was.

She also took great satisfaction in knowing that their love was, in a way, an act of defiance against the government. President Snow had basically forced them to get engaged during the victory tour, as what he thought would be a punishment for their little "star crossed lovers" charade during the games and the stunt they pulled with the nightlock berries, but as it turned out, the joke was on him. She would be more than happy to become Mrs. Mellark.

"Well then," she said, "How about we sit down to dinner, before I start eating this cake right now?", and she led him into the dining room where she had dinner waiting.

They enjoyed a nice, relaxed dinner together, followed by the cake, which was decadent.

"I don't know how you do it, Peeta. Everything you make tastes _so _good!"

"Thank you," he replied. "But now that you've had _your_ special dessert, I think I am craving _my _dessert..."

"Oh?" she asked, feigning innocence, as she sat down on his lap. "And what might that be?"

"What I _really_ want to taste right now... is _you_." he said, sliding his hand up her thigh.

"Hmmm," she purred. "_That _dessert will be served in my bedroom..."

She slid off of his lap and took his hand, leading him to her room.


	7. Chapter 7

As Gale Hawthorne walked down Katniss' street towards her house, he kept thinking about the fight they'd had this morning. He knew he had really pissed her off, and that he had better go apologize for shooting off his mouth.

He shouldn't have accused her of fucking Peeta, although he _was_ very curious to know. The truth was that he was just insanely jealous of Peeta. He and Katniss had this special connection now since they won the games, and Gale sorely missed the days when he used to have her all to himself... when _he _was the one that she leaned on, confided everything in. Now that role had been given to another man, and Gale didn't deal with that very well. Part of him _wanted_ to hate Peeta for taking Katniss from him, but deep down, he knew that it wasn't really his fault. And what made it even more bitter for Gale was that Peeta actually seemed like a decent guy, and that if they had met under different circumstances, he might even actually _like _him.

In any case, he needed to talk to Katniss and say some things that he had been meaning to say for a long time, but just never had.

As he approached her house, he saw that there were still a few lights on and all the windows were open, so she must be home. He walked around the back side of the house, heading for her back door. As he approached her bedroom window, he thought he heard her breathing, but it was in short, quick breaths.

_Is she crying? _Gale wondered to himself. _I hope she isn't crying because I was such an asshole to her this morning... _He felt terrible at the mere possibility that he could have hurt his best friend so much.

He walked up to her window, which was still wide open, and the curtains were fluttering with the soft evening breeze. The windowsill came up to Gale's chin, and he quietly peeked in the corner of the window to see if she was okay.

What he saw was _definitely _not what he expected.

From where he was standing, he could see Katniss from her waist up. She was lying on her back on her bed, naked. He couldn't see her hands from his vantage point, but they appeared to be down between her legs. There were a few candles lit around the room, and in the candlelight, her skin appeared to glow. She looked positively radiant.

_What the fuck? _Gale wondered. She was certainly_ not_ crying, as he had thought.

She was writhing around a little bit, sometimes bringing one hand up to skim lightly over her breast, and then raking it through her long hair, before bringing it back down between her legs.

Was she... _pleasuring herself?_

Gale got incredibly turned on by that thought. He knew he shouldn't be watching her in such a private moment, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. She looked so stunningly beautiful, and was clearly enjoying herself.

Gale had never seen Katniss naked before, and the sight of her body and the soft moans and sighs that were coming from her mouth had caused him to get a huge hard-on.

_I wonder, _Gale hoped, _if maybe she is thinking about me?_

Gale couldn't help himself. He shoved his right hand down into his pants, wrapped it around his very hard member and started stroking himself. Fortunately, her house was pretty isolated, so no one was around to see what he was doing.

He had been attracted to Katniss for years, but the time never seemed right to tell her. Then she ended up having to go and compete in the Hunger Games, and he thought he was going to lose her. He decided that he was running out of time to tell her how he really felt about her, especially if he was going to have to compete with Peeta for her attention.

Maybe he should go in and offer his services... he was so turned on by watching her. He stroked himself faster. He wanted desperately to be in that room, fucking her so hard, plowing into her with wild abandon, making her moan his name while he made her come again and again. But, he reminded himself, he would have to be gentle with her, she was probably still a virgin. He had already hurt her once today with his words, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her with his body. He really needed to go talk to her. _Then_, maybe, show her how much he wanted her.

He reluctantly took his hand out of his pants and tucked his shirt back in, tried to calm down a little and gather his composure. _Nothing left to do now but go knock on her door, _Gale thought.

But then he heard her voice, breathy and urgent.

"Oh, Peeta...that's so good...please don't stop, don't stop..."

_Oh, God, no! _thought Gale, as a sickening wave of understanding flooded over him. He felt nauseous. _Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think..._

He didn't want to look, but he had to know. Gale silently crept to the other side of the windowsill, where he could see the rest of Katniss' body, lying across the bed. And there, with his face buried between Katniss' legs, pleasuring her with his mouth, was Peeta Mellark.


	8. Chapter 8

_I am such a fucking idiot! _Gale chastised himself in his head. _She was not alone, she was not masturbating, and she was DEFINITELY not thinking about me!_

He needed to sit down. He leaned up against the wall of her house, slid down, and sat on the ground.

He felt hot, prickly tears of hurt and anger and jealousy and regret begin to form in his eyes and threatened to spill over, but he squeezed his eyes shut and forced them away. He put his head down in his hands.

_Well, _he thought, _you have your answer. _

He knew his best friend well enough to know that if she had encouraged Peeta to do this, then she had given him permission to do everything else too. She didn't do anything halfway. When Katniss Everdeen told you she was going to do something, she meant it, and she did it.

She had told Gale this morning in anger that she was going to fuck Peeta, and she had been telling the truth. Her brutal honesty was a trait that Gale had always admired and appreciated about her. Today, he was not appreciating it so much.

_I pushed her too far this morning, and I pushed her right into his arms._ _Just exactly the opposite of what I wanted to do._

Inside the window, Gale could hear Katniss gasping and moaning as she reached her climax. A few minutes ago, hearing that sound would have made him come undone. But now, it just made him feel as if he had been punched in the stomach.

The image was seared in his brain, of Katniss running her fingers through Peeta's blond hair as he pleasured her with his tongue.

_It should have been me, _Gale thought. _I loved her first. _

After sitting there in silence with his own torture for a few minutes, he heard Peeta's voice.

"Katniss, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course."

"Were you and Gale ever, you know... intimate?"

Gale was shocked to hear his name come up in conversation. He wanted to hear her answer though.

"Me and Gale? No, no. Why would you think that?"

"Well," Peeta continued, "It wouldn't be that far fetched. He is your best friend, and you used to be together all the time. I remember, because I used to envy him every time I saw the two of you."

"Peeta, Gale doesn't see me in that way. When he looks at me, he sees a mirror image of himself- a hunter, a survivor, except I'm in a girl's body. He doesn't find me attractive like that."

"Oh, well that's good to know."

"Why Peeta, you afraid of a little competition from other guys?" she teased.

"From a guy who looks like Gale? Who wouldn't fear that kind of competition?" he asked.

"Well, you don't have to worry about Gale. He is not interested in taking me to bed, or he would have tried it by now."

_That's not true! _Gale wanted to shout. _You are so wrong about me, Katniss... So wrong._

"Well," Peeta said to her in a teasing voice, "I'm _very_ interested in taking you to bed. So, if there's no one else you'd rather sleep with tonight-"

She cut him off before he finished speaking. "There is no one else." And she kissed him, as she shifted her body on top of his.

_I've got to get out of here, _Gale thought. He stood up and started running towards the woods, but when he turned to take one last glance towards the window, he tripped over one of the paving stones in her walkway and went down with a thud.

Katniss' ear, finely tuned from years of hunting, picked up on the sound immediately. "What was that?"

Gale got up and started running again, cursing himself for not watching where he was going.

Katniss jumped off the bed, threw on the robe that was hanging on her bedpost, and opened her back door. She looked out into the yard, where the last glow of daylight was fading into darkness. She saw the man, running towards the woods and then disappearing.

She had done enough pre-dawn hunting in the dark with her friend to know his gait and the shape of his body, even in almost no light. She knew it was Gale.

_Shit! _She thought. _What the hell was Gale doing here?And what did he hear, or see?_

She knew there was no sense in trying to run after him into the dark woods wearing nothing but a thin robe and bare feet, so she shut the door. Besides, she didn't want to upset Peeta, so she just decided that she would deal with Gale tomorrow.

Peeta appeared behind her, with just the sheet wrapped around his waist. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," she lied. "I thought I heard a noise outside, but it must have just been an animal."

"Oh, okay then. " he replied.

"You know, Mr. Mellark, I don't believe I was finished having my way with you. You'd better get your ass back to my bed!" she teased.

He didn't need to be told twice. He rushed back to her bed, and she followed, pausing to shut the window and the pull down the shade before dropping her robe.

"Now where were we?" she whispered, as she climbed up onto his lap and straddled him.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, Katniss headed out to the woods to find Gale. She was certain he'd be out here somewhere.

Sure enough, she found him in one of their regular hunting spots. He was sitting on a log, cutting the end of a stick into a sharp point with his knife, to use in a trap. He was deep in concentration, cutting in short, sharp strokes, like he was taking out his anger on the stick.

_Uh oh, _Katniss thought. _He's pissed off about something, and it's probably me._

"Hey Gale," she said softly.

He didn't even look up from his cutting.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Peeta?"

"I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

"Why bother?" he asked sharply. "I asked you a question, and you told me the truth. What more is there to say?"

_Shit, _Katniss thought. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. _Gale knows._

He still wouldn't look at her. He just kept slicing at the stick with his knife.

"Gale, stop doing that for a minute and look at me. Please?"

He threw down the stick and the knife and he looked up at her. His gray eyes looked like storm clouds... turbulent, conflicted. She could see the pain behind his eyes. He might as well have twisted that knife right into her heart.

She took a deep breath. "Why were you at my house last night?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, Gale, I know you were there, I saw you."

He stood up and walked towards her, never breaking eye contact.

"Fine, I was there. And I saw _you _too, Katniss_." _he hissed at her.

"You _saw_ me? That's creepy, Gale!"

"Well, I'm not the one who was fooling around with my window wide open!"

"Why were you even _at _my window?" she demanded.

"I came over because I wanted to talk to you. But before I could get to your door, I _heard_ you. Stupid me, I thought you were crying and I was worried, so I looked in. Turns out you were doing _just fine._"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"I heard what you said about me, too." Gale continued. "That Peeta doesn't need to worry about me being any competition, because 'I don't see you like that'."

"I didn't mean to hurt you Gale," she said. "I was just telling him the truth."

"Except that it's not the truth!" he yelled.

"What?" she squeaked out, confused.

"It's _not_ the truth, Katniss." he said, lowering his voice as he moved in closer, just inches from her now.

"I _do _see you that way. That's what I came over to tell you last night."

She couldn't speak. Her head was spinning.

"I wanted you to know how I felt, before you acted on your threat, but I saw that I was already too late."

"Oh, Gale," she whispered, reaching out and putting her hand on his cheek. She felt tears welling up in her eyes. "How long have you felt that way?" she asked.

"A while. A couple years, I don't know." he said in a low voice.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

He broke away from her and started pacing back and forth like a caged animal as he spoke.

"When could I, Katniss? There was never time for that before. We had to hunt and work together to survive and feed our families! What would I have said, 'Come on, Katniss, instead of finding food today, let's have a roll in the hay?' We had too much responsibility to think about _love_! It was hard enough just trying to _live_!"

She swallowed. He was right about that.

"And then, when you went to the Games, I was devastated. I thought the worst might happen, that you might die in the arena, and I'd have to live without you. But I don't know which would have been worse for me, watching you die when I was helpless to protect you, or watching you fall all over Peeta!"

Now her tears spilled over and ran down her face.

"I'm so sorry Gale, I had no idea..."

Gale's anger faded into guilt for making her cry.

"I know you didn't. I hid it well," he said bitterly. He returned to her side and wiped the tears off her face with his hands.

"Just tell me honestly," he asked softly. "If you had known, would I have had a chance with you? Could you have seen me as more than just your friend?"

She nodded. "Yes, Gale. If you had told me before the reaping, I would have loved you._"_

He could no longer hold back his emotions. He threw his arms around Katniss, and their bodies fell backwards against a tree. His lips crashed into hers, kissing her ravenously. His tongue sought entry into her mouth, and to his surprise, she allowed it. Then she began kissing him back, their tongues exploring each others mouths with urgency, as if making up for lost time. His hands were in her hair, pulling her closer, like he couldn't kiss her deeply enough to quench his desire.

Gale moved his hands down her sides to her waist, pulled her body tight against his, and he started grinding against her hips.

Kissing Gale was so different from kissing Peeta. While Peeta was passionate, Gale was aggressive, lustful, dominant.

Peeta...

Katniss suddenly broke the kiss and pulled away.

"I'm sorry Gale, I can't do this." she whispered. "I can't hurt Peeta."

"But you can hurt me?"

"That's not fair, I don't want to hurt you either. But it's too late for us!"

"Why? It doesn't have to be too late. Break up with him. Choose me."

"It's not that easy, Gale. Remember, I told you, Snow is forcing us to be engaged, in retaliation for us winning the games together. He still thinks that we don't really care about each other. But if it was ever discovered that I had defied the engagement order and was involved with another man- especially one they've been calling my 'cousin' in the media- it wouldn't be only _my_ life in danger, but my family's too. He could have my mom killed, or Prim, or you! It's a risk I just can't take."

Gale got angry and kicked the log that he had been sitting on earlier. "I hate this fucking government! I hate that they can control us, run our lives!"

Katniss just stood there in silence and let him vent.

Then it dawned on him. He knew his friend's heart. She wasn't telling him the whole truth, because she was trying to spare his feelings. But he wanted her to say it.

He turned back to her. "But it doesn't matter anyway, does it? That's all just a convenient excuse. The truth is, you don't _want_ to leave him for me, do you?"

"No." she quietly admitted.

"Do you love him?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Does he love you?"

"Yes."

Gale ran his hands through his hair. He couldn't decide whether to be angry or heartbroken.

"Go home to him Katniss. I'll see you around." And he stalked off into the woods, leaving her all alone.


	10. Chapter 10

Katniss walked home in a daze. Her meeting with Gale had certainly not gone they way she planned.

She entered her house, thankful to be alone. She drew herself a hot bath in the tub, got in, and pulled her knees up to her chest. She rested her head on her knees and began to cry. Soon she was sobbing uncontrollably, her tears dropping onto her legs and down into the bathwater.

She was so confused. Gale had just dropped the bombshell on her that he loved her. Part of her honestly did love him as well. She realized that if reaping day had gone differently, if any other girl's name had been called besides Prim's, Gale probably would be her lover right now, not Peeta.

She was so angry that Gale had never told her. She felt stupid for not seeing it. And now, it was too late to do anything about it. So Gale was living with the repercussions of his decision to keep his feelings to himself, and it was killing him to see her in love with another man. Now that Katniss understood his torment, her heart was breaking for him. It certainly explained why he'd been such a moody jerk lately.

She wondered where Gale was right now, what he was doing.

She needed to stop thinking about him, because there was nothing she could do. Nor anything she wanted to do.

She felt horribly guilty about the kiss with Gale. Even though it was only for a moment, even though she hadn't initiated it, and even though she ended it, she still felt guilty.

Her head was aching from crying and from trying to wrap her brain around the whole situation. She got out of the tub and dried herself off. She needed to pull herself together before Peeta came over. She never wanted him to know any of this. It would just hurt his feelings, and that would make her feel even worse.

She took a deep breath to help settle her nerves. At least Gale would still always be her best friend, right? So she supposed she was lucky, in a way. She had two amazing men in her life that she couldn't live without. A friend, and a fiance. She was just going to have to somehow make this arrangement work.

_That settles it,_ Katniss thought. Gale had made his decision, and she had made hers.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note- Sorry that last one was short. This is the continuation of that chapter, which is also short, but there are longer, juicier chapters on the way. Tomorrow will be better...**

**-_belladonnablush_**

Katniss had a headache all afternoon and evening from her crying spell and her lingering feeling of guilt. She was exhausted and wanted to go to bed early. Peeta could tell she didn't feel well, so he stayed with her and took care of her.

_You are far too good to me, Peeta. _She thought to herself.

"Are you sure you're okay, love?" he asked. "Are you sick?'

"No, I'm not sick, I just have a really bad headache and I think I need sleep. You _did_ keep me up most of the night last night, remember?" She said, with a teasing smile.

Peeta laughed a little, relieved that it was probably nothing more serious than a case of sex-induced sleep deprivation.

She felt guilty that she wasn't being completely honest with him, but she couldn't think of any way that she could tell him about the kiss without him being hurt, and she desperately wanted to avoid hurting him.

She crawled into bed at dusk, just wanting to escape into sleep. Peeta brought her some aspirin and a glass of water for her bedside.

"Do you want me to stay with you? Or do you want your bed to yourself?" he asked her.

"Don't go, Peeta. Please stay with me. You always make me feel better."

He smiled warmly at her, kissed her softly, and slid into the bed next to her. He spooned himself around her, like always. She found it warm and comforting.

"Better already," she told him.

He hugged her a little closer. He hoped that she would be able to sleep tonight, that she wouldn't be wouldn't be tormented by nightmares as she often was.

But it wasn't to be.


	12. Chapter 12

Her unconscious mind couldn't decide whether it was a dream or a nightmare.

It was dark in Katniss' bedroom, other than a couple of lit candles, flickering soft light patterns on the ceiling.

She was lying in bed naked with Peeta. He was spooned around her body in his usual position, but he didn't want to sleep. He had his arm wrapped around her waist, his hand trailing up and down the front of her body, fingers tracing a line from her navel up to her breasts and caressing over them.

She loved his touch. He had the hands of an artist- smooth but strong, talented, appreciative of beauty. His touch was gentle, but had the ability to set her whole body on fire when he explored her.

He leaned in next to her ear and began trailing kisses down the side of her neck. The warm wetness of his tongue on her sensitive skin made her shiver.

She startled as she heard her bedroom door open. Her first instinct was to sit up and see what it was, but Peeta gently tightened his arm around her waist, preventing her from moving.

"Shhh, it's okay." Peeta whispered in her ear. "It's only Gale."

"Gale? What the hell is Gale doing here?" she asked.

"I know how much you've been missing him, now that you've been spending all your time with me. I don't want to deprive you of your best friend, and I don't want to make you choose, so I thought that maybe Gale and I could learn to, well, _share_ you a little..." Peeta explained.

She was speechless. She knew Peeta was generous, but this was crazy.

Gale walked into the bedroom.

"Hey, Katniss." he said in a husky voice. He started removing his clothes and approached the bed.

She suddenly felt self-conscious because she and Gale had never been naked together before. She turned her body over, away from Gale to face Peeta.

"Don't be shy, baby." Peeta whispered to her. "You're beautiful. You should let Gale see you."

She turned her head and upper body back to look at Gale. The hunter's body was magnificent- strong and muscular. And he was aroused.

He sat down on the bed next to her and ran his fingers from her shoulder down her arm, and then reached to her front and touched her breast.

"He's right, you _are_ beautiful." Gale told her.

Gale lifted the blanket that she and Peeta were under, and slid his body alongside Katniss. She felt his hand move to her hip. He eased her body over so that instead of being on her side, she was lying on her back between the two men she loved. Gale then leaned his upper body over her and started kissing her deeply, fiercely. He was propped up on one elbow over her, and with his free hand he grasped her breast, squeezing it lightly, playing with her nipple. His hands were larger than Peeta's. He could cup her entire breast in one hand, and his skin was rougher from years of hunting and being an outdoorsman, but she found that she kind of liked it.

She was so caught up in what Gale was doing, that she hadn't noticed Peeta moving down the bed until she felt his hands parting her legs, and then his warm, wet tongue entering her.

She gasped and then made a soft moan.

Gale and Peeta both chuckled a little at her reaction.

"I think she likes that," remarked Gale.

"Oh, she does." Peeta responded.

They stayed like that for several minutes- Peeta pleasuring her with his mouth, and Gale grasping and fondling her breasts, hungrily kissing and sucking on one nipple, and then the other.

She found that her excitement was building much faster than usual, because she was being touched and pleasured in so many places at once.

"Oh, Peeta... Gale... oh my God...so fucking good..."

Gale was sucking voraciously at her neck now, and down to her collarbone... one hand still enjoying her breast, the other hand tangled in her hair, pulling her closer to him.

Peeta was still busy between her legs... tasting and teasing her with his tongue, lapping her wetness. He loved how his mouth could get her so aroused, making her writhe around and move her hips to meet the movements of his tongue.

She had her hand in the back of his blond hair, encouraging him to continue what he was doing.

"Peeta, don't stop... mmmm... please don't stop..." she managed to whimper.

He had no intention of stopping until she came, and he could tell she was almost there.

"Kiss me Gale!" she said hoarsely. He obliged her command, bringing his mouth to her own and kissing her lustily as she raked her hand through his dark hair.

A few moments later, she finally reached her climax, moaning loudly into Gale's mouth, gasping for breath, her whole body quivering from the release of all that tension.

Peeta moved her leg aside so he could move back up the bed next to Katniss.

"That's just round one," he whispered to her. "We're not done with you yet."

She liked the sound of that.

The three of them lay together in the bed- Katniss in the middle, lying on her side facing Peeta, and Gale behind her.

Peeta reached his hand down the front of her body until he found her sensitive spot, and began stroking her with his fingers.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Gale brought his hand up through her legs, found her wet entrance, and inserted a finger inside of her. He slid it in and out of her, exploring her on the inside, while Peeta continued pleasuring her on the outside.

She could feel that both of the men pressed up against her were very hard and needing their own release. She reached one hand forward to stroke Peeta's hard member, and one hand behind to grasp Gale's.

Gale spoke first. "Well, you have both of us here, wanting to satisfy you..."

"We know that you love us both." Peeta said.

"So, I guess the question for you, Katniss, is this..." Gale said into her ear in a low, gravelly voice, "which one of us do you want to fuck you first?"

She looked over her shoulder at Gale, and then looked back at Peeta.

She couldn't decide. She wanted them both.

Katniss woke up suddenly, gasping for breath and drenched in sweat. She was afraid to turn over for fear of who she might find in the bed with her, but to her relief she was alone.

She threw off the blanket, stumbled to the window and opened it, taking in deep breaths of fresh air. She figured it must be late morning, because the sun was very bright. That would mean that Peeta had gotten up and gone to the bakery while she slept.

_Thank God he wasn't here for THAT dream, _she thought to herself. She couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of things she might have been saying in her sleep.

She went back to the bed, sat down and gulped down the glass of water that Peeta had left for her last night.

Next to the water glass she found a note.

It read, _Good morning! Didn't want to wake you. Hope you feel better today. Love, Peeta._

She slumped over onto her pillow. Peeta's sweet note made her feel even more guilty about the dream.

_This has got to stop, _she thought. _Why am I even dreaming about Gale? I don't want Gale! I made my decision!_

She wished that she had someone to talk to about this. Usually whenever she had a problem, she always went to Gale for advice. But now, Gale _was _the problem. She knew that seeing him right now would almost certainly make matters worse. She knew she needed to put some space between herself and Gale until things went back to normal.

She just wanted to go back in time to the other day, when Gale was just her friend and she was madly in love with Peeta. No complications, no drama.

_Well, _she reminded herself, _I still have that. My wonderful Peeta, who I am still madly in love with._

Then she had a sobering thought that made her shudder. She realized that she had better get her head on straight and totally avoid Gale altogether for a while... maybe _quite_ a while.

Unlike the Peeta in her dream, the Peeta who _really_ shared her bed would never be willing to share her with Gale, or with anyone else for that matter. Not even _he_ was that generous and forgiving.


	13. Chapter 13

Katniss decided to head over to the bakery and hang out with Peeta for the rest of the day. She liked keeping him company and watching him work. Sometimes there were even little things she could do to help out around the bakery, although she couldn't bake anything to save her life.

She walked in through the front door of the bakery, and Peeta immediately lit up.

"Oh, Katniss! I'm glad you're here!"

"Uh oh," she said. "That must mean you have chores for me to do!" she teased.

"Very funny." he replied, giving her a hug and a kiss. "Are you feeling better today?"

"Yes, all better, thanks to your excellent TLC!"

"My pleasure." he told her.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, Peeta rolling out cookie dough on the big work counter, and Katniss sitting nearby watching him, entranced by how quickly and smoothly his hands worked.

"You know..." he said, "There are a _few_ little things you could do to help me, if you wanted to..."

"I knew it!" she giggled. "I knew you wanted to put me to work today! You do remember that I can't bake, right? Unless you want to lose all your customers!"

He smiled at her, and popped a bite of cookie dough into her mouth.

"You can handle it, honey. It's real easy." he kidded. "Think you could drizzle icing on those cinnamon rolls over there and then just sprinkle some of those chopped nuts on top?"

"Hmmm, I don't know... what's in it for me? Are you going to pay me for my services rendered?" she teased.

He looked around to make sure there were no customers in the shop, then leaned in close to her and said "If you help me out today, I promise I will provide all the _services_ that you can handle tonight."

His eyes sparkled at her mischievously.

"You got yourself a deal, Mr. Mellark!" she purred.

She set to work icing the cinnamon rolls, then after that, he had her dipping fresh baked cookies in melted chocolate and sprinkling powdered sugar on little bite size cupcakes.

After she finished all that, she stood up straight, did a big, silly exaggerated stretch, faked a yawn and pretended like she was exhausted.

"Geez, I don't know Peeta, you've worked me pretty hard today... It might take you two or three nights to pay me back for all this work..." she said, flashing her love a sultry grin.

"Don't push your luck," he teased, as he reached over and playfully slapped her on the ass.

"Say..." Katniss asked. "You've got an awful lot of desserts here. What's all this stuff for anyway?"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you! All this stuff is for the mayor. He's having some big party tonight at his house and he hired me to make all the pastries and desserts for it!"

"That's great, Peeta!" she exclaimed.

"There are going to be a bunch of people from the capitol there. He said even Effie will be there! He told me that since we have to stop by anyway to drop off the desserts, we were more than welcome to come if we wanted to. He thought it might impress his guests, having the victors make an appearance...what do you think? You wanna get dressed up and go to a party tonight?"

"Hmmm," she thought. "Sure, that sounds like fun!"

Then, just to be a smartass, added "That is, as long as it doesn't interfere with my _payment_ for today..."

Peeta stopped what he was doing, turned to her, took hold of her apron she was wearing and gently pulled her towards him until their bodies were almost touching. He had that smoldering look in his eyes.

"Katniss Everdeen, you are a bad, bad girl. I might just have to spank you tonight for that smartass mouth of yours."

"You love my mouth and you know it."

He certainly couldn't deny that.

He gave her another little slap on the ass for good measure.

After they finished up in the bakery, Peeta and Katniss went inside to get ready for the party. Peeta put on crisp dress pants and a button down shirt, and Katniss in a cute, knee length summer dress.

They both had to carry several boxes filled with all the desserts from the bakery to the party.

When they arrived at the mayor's house, Madge opened the door.

"Katniss! Peeta! So glad to see you!" she exclaimed.

"It would be great to see you too, Madge," Katniss joked, "If I could see over all these boxes!"

Madge laughed. "Here, give me some of those."

Madge took a few of the boxes from Katniss and started handing them to the servants to put out on the buffet table.

"Geez, Peeta, I can't believe you made her carry all that stuff!" Madge teased.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's why he keeps me around," Katniss said. "He makes all this stuff and then I'm the pack mule that has to carry it!"

Madge and Katniss broke into a fit of giggles, as Peeta then gave his boxes to the servants.

"Come on in to the party," Madge said when she finally stopped laughing. "There's a whole bunch of people here!"

Effie spotted them first, and rushed over to greet them.

"Hello! Hello!" she chirped, as she wrapped them both in a big hug.

"Hi Effie!" Katniss said. "I love your outfit!"

Effie was wearing a dark, eggplant purple silk suit with branches of silver cherry blossoms embroidered all over it, with silver high heeled shoes and a gigantic dark purple flower in her perfectly coiffed hair.

"Why thank you my dear, I just found this dress in the capitol the other day and I simply _had_ to have it!"

"Well," Katniss told her, "No one will accuse _you_ of being a shrinking violet tonight!"

Effie laughed with delight. "Oh, you are such a darling, Katniss! Have you seen Haymitch yet?"

"No," Peeta said. "We actually didn't even know he was coming tonight!"

"Oh, well what a lovely surprise then! He's around here somewhere..." Effie said, craning her neck to look around the large room.

"Probably wherever they have the bar set up!" said Katniss.

"No doubt!" agreed Effie. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I must continue making my rounds and saying hello to everyone! I shall see you later!"

Effie pranced away from them and disappeared into the crowd, greeting her other friends from the capitol.

Peeta and Katniss held hands as they made their way towards the bar, where they found Haymitch, with one of Peeta's cookies in one hand, and a glass of scotch in the other.

"Well, well, well," said Haymitch. "Look what the cat dragged in. If it isn't the star-crossed lovers!" he ribbed them, good-naturedly.

"Hi, Haymitch!" they both replied in unison.

"We didn't know you were going to be here tonight!" Peeta told him.

"Yeah, well, I heard there'd be some names here that I knew..." Haymitch started explaining.

"You mean Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker?" asked Katniss with a glimmer in her eye. She knew that Haymitch didn't offend easily, and he liked her sense of humor because he could be snarky too.

"Ha ha ha, yeah, them too." he replied. "Anyways, the invitation mentioned my two favorite words..."

Katniss couldn't resist. "Open bar?" she asked with a huge grin.

Haymitch smiled broadly at her. "I was gonna say 'free food'.." he said, as he popped the last bite of Peeta's cookie into his mouth. "But 'open bar' works for me too."

He tossed back the last sip of the scotch in his glass, then looked at Peeta.

"You'd better keep your girl, here, in line tonight!" joked Haymitch. "She's a fireball!"

Peeta rolled his eyes. "Believe me, Haymitch, I know!"

Haymitch laughed heartily. "I bet you do!"

Haymitch then leaned into Katniss and gave her a quick, soft kiss on the cheek. "Try to behave yourself, sweetheart!"

Then he turned back to the bartender and asked for another scotch.

Peeta and Katniss made their way through the guests, stopping often to talk with people who recognized them from the games and wanted to get to know them. They were the perfect party guests. Peeta had a natural ease about him that everyone loved, and he had the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation with anyone about anything. Katniss was the comedian, able to have fun banter and come up with sharp one liners that kept the guests laughing.

As Peeta admired her and watched her work the crowd, he began feel a little mischievous himself.

He put his arm around Katniss.

"If you'll excuse us please, we're going to keep making our way around the room," he said, leading her away.

"Where are we going?" asked Katniss, as he led her towards one of the exits at the back of the room.

"Come with me," Peeta told Katniss, as he grabbed her hand and led her out of the main hall where the party was being held, and down a long corridor. He had no idea where he was going, he just wanted to find somewhere where they could be alone for a little while.

"I don't think we're supposed to be going down here..." she said.

"Shhh!" he shushed her.

Most of the doors in the corridor were closed, but way down at the end of the hall, he found an open door which led into a big bathroom. It was so far down the corridor that he couldn't imagine any of the party guests would make their way down here.

_Good, _he thought to himself. _No interruptions._

He led her into the bathroom and shut and locked the door. Then, he playfully pushed her back up against the door. He leaned into her and started kissing her neck hungrily.

"What are we doing in here?" Katniss asked, very curious of his motive.

"I warned you earlier that I was going to spank you if you kept running that smartass mouth of yours, and you've been running it _all night._"

"You're gonna spank me? Is that a _threat _or a _promise_?" she asked seductively.

"Ohh, you're a _bad_ girl, You just don't know when to quit..." he said as he undid two of the buttons on the top of her dress so he could kiss the top of her breast.

"I think we both know that you don't _really _want me to."

He grabbed her by her wrist and led her over to the large granite sink.

"Bend your naughty girl ass over that counter." he instructed.

_Wow!_ She thought to herself. This was a side of Peeta she hadn't seen before, and it was getting her _very _hot and turned on.

She obeyed his command and bent over, holding onto the sink vanity with both hands.

She felt Peeta lift the bottom of her dress and throw it up onto her back. Then he shimmied her panties down around her ankles.

He was so aroused, standing there with her bent over like that with her now naked ass before him.

"You're a very bad girl aren't you?" he asked.

"Yup!" she answered proudly.

_SLAP! _

Peeta gave her a good slap on the ass.

"Say you're sorry for being a bad girl."

"No. If this is where it gets me, then I am _SO_ not sorry."

_SLAP!_

He smacked her again.

He was so horny for her right now, he almost felt dizzy with lust.

He slid his hand from her sexy ass cheek down between her legs and felt how wet she was.

"If I didn't know any better," he said, "I might think that you were _enjoying_ me spanking you..."

She just looked over her shoulder at him and gave him an evil grin.

"Do you like me punishing you like this?" he asked.

"_Almost_ as much as you're enjoying doing it." she retorted.

_SLAP!_

"Do you want me to fuck you?" he asked huskily.

"Yes."

"Beg for it." he told her.

"No."

_SLAP! _

He smacked her ass again.

"What do you mean, _no?_"

She looked back at him with her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Every time you lean into me, I can feel how hard you are." she answered. "From where I'm standing, I'd say that _you_ should be begging _me _for a fuck."

Peeta shook his head at her. God, he wanted her _so_ badly.

"That mouth of yours just doesn't know when to stop, does it?"

"You can see for yourself later, when I'm sucking your cock!"

Peeta thought he was going to come right then and there. He had to take a deep breath.

Katniss was gloating with satisfaction, knowing the effect she was having on him.

"If you want me to fuck you," Peeta said, "You're going to have to ask nicely. Say Please."

"No."

_SLAP!_

"_Say Please!" _he told her again.

"Okay, okay." she giggled. "You win! _Please, please_ fuck me right now. I can't wait any longer!"

He dropped his pants and stepped up against her so that his hard dick slid in between her legs, pressed against her upper thigh.

"There," he whispered. "Now was that so hard?"

She couldn't resist making one last smartass comment.

"Well, I can certainly tell you what _is_ so hard..."

He just chuckled a little and shook his head.

He then positioned himself to find her wet entrance and slid into her.

He held onto her hips and thrust himself in deeply, over and over.

She held on tight to the granite counter top with both hands.

He fucked her hard, and she liked it, moaning and gasping for breath.

Peeta liked that he could see their reflection in the large mirror on the wall above the sink, so he could watch her face react to what he was doing.

They were both so turned on by now, doing something they shouldn't be doing, in a place they shouldn't be, that it didn't take very long before they both had mind-blowing orgasms, and it took all their willpower to try to keep somewhat quiet so no one would hear them.

He slid out of her and she turned around to face him. He kissed her beautiful, smartass mouth.

"You're still a bad, bad girl, Katniss Everdeen."

"And you still _love it_, Peeta Mellark."

"I guess we'd better get cleaned up and get back to the party before anyone realizes we're gone." Peeta sighed.

They were just finishing dressing and washing their hands a few minutes later when they heard a knock on the door.

They both clapped their hands to their mouths in surprise, and tried not to laugh.

"Um, just one second..." Peeta said.

They took one last glance in the mirror to make sure they looked presentable, then Peeta slowly opened the door.

It was an older gentleman, one of the officials from the capitol.

"So sorry," said the gentleman, "I didn't think anyone would be using this bathroom."

"It's okay," Peeta said quietly, then from behind the door came Katniss, holding his hand and blushing.

A knowing smile crept onto the lips of the capitol official.

"Ah... You two are the 'star-crossed lovers' that won the Games, aren't you?"

They both nodded in unison.

The official smiled broadly. "Ah, to be young and in love! I remember when me and the missus were like you!"

He lowered his voice a little and said to Peeta and Katniss, "We couldn't keep our hands off each other either!"

The couple just stood there grinning and blushing scarlet red.

"Get out of here, you crazy lovebirds!" the official laughed.

Peeta and Katniss rushed down the hall back towards the party, holding hands and giggling like children the whole way.

The couple returned to the party and blended back in with the crowd, acting as if they had never left. They socialized, and ate and drank until the evening grew late.

They decided that before they left, it might not be a bad idea to check on Haymitch and see if he needed someone to walk him home and make sure he got there without passing out in a ditch or anything. They made their way back to the bar, where Haymitch was still perched with a drink in his hand... and... was that Effie...sitting on his lap?

Katniss and Peeta looked at each other with their eyebrows raised in surprise.

They saw Haymitch say something to the bartender, who then returned a moment later with a fruity pink drink and handed it to Effie. She was laughing loudly and seemed to be very flirtatious. She looked like she had probably had a _few _fancy drinks, courtesy of Haymitch. So much for her perfect manners and etiquette. Though they had to admit, it was nice to see Effie cut loose and have fun.

"Um, I think Haymitch doesn't really need our company right now..." said Peeta, smirking.

"Yeah, I'd say he's doing just fine without our help!" laughed Katniss.

Peeta leaned in close to Katniss and whispered in her ear, "I guess we aren't the only ones at this party feeling a little frisky tonight! Maybe I should go tell Haymitch where that bathroom is!"

Katniss gave him a playful slap on the arm. She definitely could _not _see Effie Trinket getting it on in a bathroom, no matter how many drinks she'd had.

As they started making their way to the door to head home, the mayor stopped them to thank them for coming, and to compliment Peeta on his desserts.

"You have made quite an impression on all the guests with your culinary abilities, Mr. Mellark! You seem to be the talk of the town!" The mayor told him proudly. "I wouldn't be surprised if you have a number of these folks stopping by your bakery tomorrow to buy some goodies before they have to return home to the capitol!"

"Oh, that's great!" said Peeta. "Thank you very much, I'm glad that you were pleased!"

"Very much so!" said the mayor. "I will be sure to call on you whenever I need catering for a special event."

Peeta beamed, and Katniss squeezed his hand, very proud of him.

"Thank you, sir." Peeta said, as he reached out and shook his hand. "And thank you again for inviting us to attend your party. It was a wonderful evening."

"Yes," Katniss chimed in. "It certainly was."

She looked knowingly at Peeta's face.

Peeta saw that look in her eyes that said, _Go ahead, dare me to say something sarcastic._

She said, "I can honestly say that I've never enjoyed myself _so much_ at a party. Wouldn't you agree, Peeta?"

All he could do was nod his head in agreement.

_She just HAD to make that last smartass remark, didn't she? _thought Peeta to himself.

Suddenly Peeta couldn't wait to get out of there.

That naughty girl of his was going to be in big trouble when they got home.


	14. Chapter 14

Katniss couldn't wait to get home either. She was loving that Peeta was in such a playful, frisky mood tonight, and she knew that he was going to make her pay for that last smartass comment at the party.

When they got to Peeta's house, he unlocked the door for her and let her inside, then he followed her in. She heard the door click shut behind her, and when she turned back to face him, she saw Peeta, standing with his back against the door, with that look in his eyes... that dark, intense, smoldering look, combined with a twinkle of playfulness. He looked like he was about to pounce on her.

"I'm going to give you a three second head start, Everdeen." he said in a low voice, with a smirk on his face.

"Three, two-"

Katniss screamed with laughter and bolted to the living room.

"One!" he yelled, as he took off running behind her.

Katniss flew up the stairs, but Peeta was only two steps behind her.

She reached his bedroom, but in the split second it took for her to turn around and see where he was, she felt Peeta tackle her onto the bed, landing her on her back and sat on top of her, straddling her.

Katniss was howling with laughter.

"You like that?" he asked playfully. "You didn't think I could catch you, did you?"

"Pretty good, Mellark! Maybe you should try hunting with me sometime!" she said breathlessly.

"Only one thing I'm interested in catching, and that is my naughty fiancee who has a _very_ dirty mouth."

"You love it." she teased.

"Never said I didn't." he retorted. "But you have been a bad girl all night and now I'm going to make you pay for it."

"Okay, okay, I surrender! I'm a bad girl!" she said, giggling, throwing him off of her and rolling their bodies over so now he was on his back and she was lying on top.

"So tell me," she purred into his ear. "What do I have to do to make it up to you?"

She sucked on his earlobe for a moment, and then began trailing kisses down the side of his neck.

He had his hands up her dress, resting on her ass that he had spanked at the party.

"Hmmm..." Peeta thought about what to ask for. "Well, I do believe that you told me in that bathroom that you'd be sucking me off later."

"So that's what you want, is it?"

"Let's just say you can _start _with that." Peeta said in a very sultry voice.

"You drive a hard bargain." she said, as she slid herself down and started removing his pants and boxers.

He unbuttoned his shirt, whipped it off and threw it on the floor.

He lay back on the pillows and watched Katniss as she positioned herself between his legs, wrapped her hand around his hard dick and lowered her mouth onto it.

She heard him inhale deeply as she took his entire length into her mouth. She began by sucking him slowly, gently... teasing him with her tongue, getting him good and worked up.

He was sighing, breathing deeply. He had his hands in her hair, encouraging her to continue.

She began picking up the pace, sucking harder and faster. She reached down with her other hand and stroked his balls, and heard him moan in response.

"Oh, Katniss you are _so _good... mmmm..."

He moved his hips in rhythm to her sucking, like he just couldn't get enough of her mouth. Her tongue felt so hot, so wet, so fucking good on his sensitive skin.

She could tell he was getting close. She loved getting him all hot and bothered. There was nothing she enjoyed more than pleasuring Peeta. She wanted to tease him just a little bit more.

She started making little sighing, moaning noises of her own. She wanted to make it clear that she was _enjoying_ servicing him. She knew that if he could tell she was getting excited, too, that it would push him right over the edge.

She was right.

He moaned loudly as he reached his release.

"Oh, God, Katniss! Aaah... ahhh. Yes!"

He spilled himself into her mouth, and she swallowed it down.

Peeta took a deep breath and then exhaled loudly. "Wow..." was all he could say.

"Still think my mouth doesn't know when to stop?" she asked playfully.

"I don't _ever _want your mouth to stop doing that!" he replied, with a very satisfied smile on his lips.

He looked down at his love, who had a naughty grin on her face. He noticed that she was still wearing her party dress.

"Come up here, baby. Let's get you out of that dress." he told her.

Katniss crawled up the bed alongside him, then turned around, up on her knees, with her back towards him.

"Would you mind giving me a hand?" she asked.

He got up on his knees behind her, swept her long hair off to the side, and kissed the back of her neck. She was very sensitive there, and it gave her goosebumps.

He moved his hands to the zipper at the back of her dress and slowly slid it down. Then he gathered up the dress in both hands and carefully lifted it up over her head, tossing it to the floor.

He reached his arms around her waist and embraced her. She intertwined her fingers with his. She turned her head sideways and met his lips for a soft kiss.

"I love you, Peeta." she whispered.

"I love you too." he replied. "Come lie down and snuggle with me for a minute."

They both reclined backwards onto the bed, Peeta on his back, and Katniss on her side, with her arm and leg draped across his body, and her head resting on his shoulder.

They lay there quietly for a while, snuggled together, feeling each other's heartbeat. Peeta was softly caressing his hand up and down her back.

Katniss broke the silence.

"You know, I was really proud of you tonight." she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When the mayor told you how impressed he was with your work. That's a big deal! I was so proud of you. You've worked so hard to make the bakery your own, you know? It's not your parents' thing anymore, it's yours. And you're _really_ good at it!"

"Thank you," he said sweetly. "That means a lot to me."

She lifted her head, propped herself up on her elbow, and looked at him, just inches from her own face.

"You're really good at a lot of things." she whispered, with a smile on her lips.

She leaned in and kissed him, softly at first, then deeper. Her tongue swept across his lip and he opened his mouth for her. They playfully made out for a long time. Then she felt Peeta's hands on her hips. He gently shifted her body over so she was lying on top of him, straddling his body.

Judging from the feel of things, it appeared that Peeta was already ready for a little more action.

He reached his hand down between her legs and started stroking her with his fingers. She was already pretty warmed up from their makeout session, so it wasn't long before she was very wet and very hot for him.

Without needing to say a word, she positioned herself above his hips and eased herself down, sliding his hard member inside of her.

Peeta looked up at her, sitting on top of him. He wanted to touch her everywhere. He moved his hands up her thighs, up her sides, caressed her breasts.

She leaned forward, and he wrapped his arms around her, then slid his hands down so he was holding onto her hips. They began moving together, slowly at first, then picking up the pace until they were both panting and moaning.

Peeta looked up at her. Her hair was falling down in loose waves towards his face. Her eyes were dark and intense, her cheeks were flushed pink, and she was clearly enjoying the ride.

"Damn, Katniss, you look so fucking hot right now..." he panted.

She looked down at him and smiled. His blond locks were a sexy mess. His eyes... God, she could get lost in those deep blue bedroom eyes.

"Make me come, Peeta." she said breathlessly.

He held onto her hips tighter, and started pulling her down, meeting his thrusts, a little harder, a little faster. He felt her body tensing up, and saw her eyes close tightly.

"That's it, Peeta... don't stop..." she moaned.

She rode him a little harder, and then suddenly her orgasm crashed over her as she gasped for breath and moaned his name.

Peeta could no longer hold back his own release after that, and his body shook with a powerful orgasm, as he came into her.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He hated to go to sleep because he didn't want to miss a moment of this bliss with her, but he really did need to. He had a feeling it was going to be a busy day at the bakery tomorrow.

They reluctantly separated themselves from each other, got cleaned up, and then returned to the bed.

"Hold me Peeta?" she asked.

He spooned himself around her and kissed her cheek.

"I love you," she said dreamily.

"Me too," he whispered back.

Katniss had no nightmares that night, only blissful dreams of Peeta.


	15. Chapter 15

Morning felt like it came awfully early that day. They had stayed up so late fooling around after the party, that neither one of them got very much sleep.

Peeta looked at the clock, yawned and stretched. He _so _did not want to get out of this warm bed right now, but he knew he needed to. He had a feeling it was going to be a busy day, especially if the mayor was right about the party guests wanting to stop by and see what kind of goodies he had in the bakery.

He looked over at Katniss, who was sleeping peacefully next to him. She hadn't woken up screaming last night, and he was happy about that. It seemed like her nightmares about the Games were getting less frequent. He hoped that it meant that one day she would be able to leave all those horrific memories in the past, and stop reliving them night after night.

Peeta lay there for a while, just watching her sleep, stroking her soft hair. The only thing that kept him from suffering as much as she did was that he had a very different perspective on their experience. Katniss saw things very matter-of-factly... that she just happened to be lucky enough to survive, to live and breathe another day. For her, even after winning, the fear never really went away. It imprisoned her.

For him, winning the Games didn't just mean that he had escaped death. Peeta understood that winning had truly blessed his life. It had given him everything he could have ever wanted but never would have dreamed possible... this beautiful house, his bakery, a life of love shared with Katniss. He would go through it all again, if this was the reward at the end.

Reluctantly, Peeta decided he really needed to get out of bed. He made his way into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. The warm water was refreshing, but he still only felt half awake. He leaned his forehead against the tile wall and closed his eyes, letting the water pour over his body.

"Rough night?" asked a voice behind him.

He nearly jumped a mile as Katniss appeared in the shower door.

"Oh! You scared me!" Peeta said, laughing, as he slapped his hand to his heart.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I woke up when I heard the shower start, and I thought maybe you might like some company... you know, help you wash your back or...whatever..." she trailed off as she looked his body up and down.

He smiled and rolled his eyes. "Come on in, then!" he invited her.

"Did you sleep well?" Katniss asked him, as she stepped into the shower.

"Yes, just not enough of it!" he replied, hugging her close. "You?"

"Yes. No nightmares!" she said happily. She gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "Now turn around and I'll wash your back."

Peeta turned around, and Katniss lathered up her hands with lots of soap. She massaged her hands all over his back, which was quite muscular from all the heavy lifting he did in the bakery. He had to admit, he was very much enjoying the back rub.

Then Peeta felt her reach around his front and wrap her hand, slippery with soap lather, around his dick.

"And _there's_ the naughty girl I know!" joked Peeta.

"Mmmm-hmmm..." she said into his ear.

"You _do _know I have to get to work soon, right, my love?" he asked sarcastically.

"Don't worry," she teased. "I don't think this will take long."

"Not with _your_ talented hand!" he replied, smiling.

She began stroking him, gently at first. The soap suds made her hand very slippery, and it felt incredibly good to Peeta, as she slid her fingers up and down his shaft.

"Mmmm, I could get used to this sort of wake up call..." he sighed.

She grasped him a little harder and stroked a little faster. Just as she'd predicted, it didn't take very long before he was approaching his release.

She whispered, "Let me know when you're getting close and I'll finish you off with my mouth."

"Now might be good!" he panted.

She quickly rinsed the soap off of him, knelt down in front of him, and took him in her mouth. He moaned as she sucked him hungrily. A few moments later, she swallowed down his load as he finished in her mouth.

"Wow," he sighed, "That was certainly a nice way to start the day! I can't exactly say I really feel like going to work now, though. I'd rather be going back to bed with you and returning the favor...I'll have to owe you one." he told her, as he stepped out of the shower and handed her a towel.

"If I remember correctly, you still owe me a night of pleasuring for the work I did at the bakery yesterday!" she said in a teasing voice, wrapping herself in the towel.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Well, I'll have to pay you that debt later tonight."

"Speaking of work," Katniss said, more seriously this time, "Do you need me to come down and help you out today? I know you said that it might be a busy day."

"Well, yeah, actually, if you're willing, I probably could use some extra help. That would be great!"

An hour later, they had the bakery open, and things were already getting busy. Peeta was working like crazy, baking fresh pastries and muffins, and Katniss was greeting the customers and filling their orders from all the delicious choices in the display counter. Just as the mayor had predicted, Peeta recognized several of this morning's customers from the party last night.

At one point, Katniss looked up to help the next customer in line and noticed that it was none other than the capitol official who had caught them in the bathroom last night. Katniss instantly blushed scarlet red with embarrassment.

"Good morning," she said shyly. "How can I help you?"

"Ha ha, just look at the two of you lovebirds, working side by side! A perfect team!" he boomed, with a huge smile.

Katniss smiled, grateful for his friendliness.

"Tell me, dear, do you two do _everything _together?" he asked.

"Pretty much!" she replied. "We never seem to tire of each other's company."

"Well, keep up that spirit, young lady, and you'll have a long, happy life together!" he said.

"Thank you," she said, smiling warmly. "Now what kind of goodies can I get for you?"

The official picked out several types of pastries and cookies, which Katniss wrapped neatly in a box and handed to him.

"My wife will just love these!" he said. "Before I forget, take this-" he said to Katniss, as he handed her a business card with his name on it. _Bartlett Harrington, _it read. "If you ever find yourselves in the capitol, do look me up! The missus would just be over the moon to meet the two of you! She was a big fan of yours during the Games! She can't resist a good love story!"

"Thank you, Mr. Harrington! We'll do that!" she replied, with a warm smile. She liked this man. He seemed very kind and sincere, not phony and pretentious like most of the people she'd met from the capitol.

"Take care of each other!" he yelled to her as he walked out the door.

This was turning out to be an interesting morning.

The next couple that walked into the bakery was... Haymitch and Effie?

Peeta and Katniss glanced at each other, with knowing grins on their faces. They approached the counter together to greet the unusual pair.

Katniss wanted _so badly _to tease and poke fun at Haymitch about them showing up together, but she knew better than to do it with Effie at his side. That would surely be considered "bad manners". She forced herself to keep the conversation light and pleasant... there figured there would be plenty of time to press Haymitch for details later.

"Good morning!" Peeta greeted them warmly. "What a nice surprise to see the both of you at the same time! And so early in the morning, no less!"

Haymitch narrowed his eyes at Peeta. "Yeah, well Miss Trinket here was on her way to the train to head back to the capitol, and wanted to stop by here to get some snacks for the trip..."

Effie broke in to finish the story. "Haymitch was kind enough to offer to walk me to the bakery and then see me off at the train station. Isn't that so kind of him?"

"Oh yes!" Katniss agreed. "How kind of you, Haymitch! So nice of you to look out for your _friend!"_

"Sure, sweetheart. Nice is my middle name." replied Haymitch.

Effie picked out what she wanted, and Katniss packed it up for her.

"Well, I'm afraid we must be going!" Effie chirped. "Can't be late for the train! Bye bye!"

She waved at them and then pranced out the door, followed by Haymitch.

Peeta and Katniss looked at each other, trying to stifle a laugh.

"You really think?" Peeta asked her. "The two of them? You think they hooked up? Or is this Haymitch actually just trying to be nice for once?"

"I don't know," Katniss said. "They did look pretty cozy last night, and then they show up here so early today? Haymitch is usually still passed out at this hour!"

Peeta just shrugged his shoulders. "Guess we'll find out eventually!"

They got back to work, as another group of customers walked in the door.

Peeta's business was booming. It continued like that all day, and the next day, and the next day.

Soon Katniss found herself helping out in the bakery daily.

After a few weeks of her being there every single day, Peeta began to suspect that something was up with her. He wasn't complaining, because he loved having her by his side all day, but it just wasn't like her. Usually she preferred to be outdoors as much as possible. She didn't like to be confined inside all the time.

Over breakfast one morning, Peeta finally decided to ask her what was going on.

"Katniss, why haven't you seen Gale lately?" he asked.

Katniss almost choked on her breakfast. "What?" she sputtered.

"You have been working with me every single day for three weeks now. Don't get me wrong, I love having you around to help, but I know it's not really your favorite thing. You haven't even _mentioned_ Gale in ages, and you obviously haven't been out hunting with him. So what's the deal? You guys have a falling out or something?"

Katniss' heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she could hear her pulse in her ears.

"You could say that." she said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Peeta asked.

_Not really..._ she thought to herself. _But I guess the time has come._

There was a long pause while she considered what to say.

"Let's just say that he had gotten a little too... _envious_ of you, and I didn't like it."

"What do you mean?" Peeta asked.

_Are you really going to make me spell it out? _She thought.

She took a deep breath. _Just tell him. Tell him the truth._

She sighed. "Peeta, the last time I saw Gale, he kissed me."

"What? He kissed you? Like a "you're more than my friend" kind of kiss?"

"Yes, like that." she replied.

"I thought you said he didn't see you like that."

"Peeta, I was as shocked and surprised as you are. He told me that he had feelings for me. He told me..." she trailed off.

"Told you what?" he asked.

_Just say it Katniss, you owe it to him to know the whole truth._

"He told me that he wanted me to break up with you... that I should be with him instead."

Peeta didn't say anything for a while. He just sat back in his chair, quietly considering this new revelation. His silence was driving Katniss crazy.

She spoke again to break the uncomfortable silence. "I told him that I loved you and I wasn't going to leave you, and I haven't seen him since. That's why I haven't been going out to the woods. I'm avoiding Gale."

"Do you plan on just avoiding him forever?" Peeta asked.

"I don't know, maybe. If that's what I need to do."

"Katniss, that's not realistic. You can't hide from him for the rest of your life. The district's not that big. And you can't avoid the woods forever, that's like asking you not to breathe."

"Well, until I come up with a better plan, that's what I'm going to do."

There was another long silence between them.

Then Peeta asked, "Were you ever going to tell me about it?"

She could see the hurt in his eyes.

Her own eyes started to fill up with tears. It took all her strength just to find her voice to speak.

"I didn't know how to tell you, Peeta. I didn't want to hurt you, and I didn't want you to worry, because there is nothing to worry about. I only love _you._ And I would never leave you, not for anyone."

"If you love me, then you need to be honest with me, even if you think I don't want to hear it." he told her.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you," she whispered hoarsely. "I just couldn't."

Peeta stood up and brought his dishes to the sink. "I've got to get to work now," he said softly.

"Do you want my help?" she whispered.

"Why don't you take today off." he replied. "I think we both could use a little time to think today."

He left for the bakery without kissing her goodbye.

Her stomach was in knots. What was she supposed to do with herself all day? Peeta wanted to be alone, so she couldn't go to the bakery, and she couldn't go to the woods because she was trying to avoid Gale. It was going to be a very long day.

She went into her bedroom, flopped herself down on her bed and cried.

She wished with all her heart that Gale had never kissed her, but it was too late for wishes.


	16. Chapter 16

Peeta went over to the bakery and immediately started mixing bread dough. He needed something to take out his hurt and anger on, and he figured that the long, strenuous, physical process of kneading and pressing the heavy dough would be therapeutic. Besides, he had a lot to think through, and he always thought better when his hands were busy.

He wasn't really mad at Katniss. He was a little bit hurt that she'd felt she couldn't tell him about the kiss, but he understood her reasoning. He was mad at Gale. Not in a jealous kind of way so much, because Peeta knew that Gale was probably not the only man in Panem who had a thing for his famous girlfriend, but he was furious with him for putting Katniss in that position. He was supposed to be her best friend, yet he had kissed her and then told her she had to make a choice between her best friend and her boyfriend. Gale _had _to have known how excruciating it would be for her to have to make that choice, one way or the other. Peeta figured that this must have been eating her up inside all this time, for her to completely avoid going out to the woods that she loved so much, just to avoid seeing Gale. How could Gale do that to her?

Peeta worked on his bread all morning, and just as he knew it would, it helped him see more clearly, and work through his emotions. By lunch time, he knew what he needed to do.

Meanwhile, Katniss sat at home, waiting and wondering. The suspense was killing her, not knowing how mad Peeta was at her, or what was going to happen. She cried off and on all day, wondering if he was going to come over and break up with her because she had kept the kiss a secret from him. She didn't dare leave the house in case he came over to talk.

She hoped that maybe he would come over at lunch time, but he didn't. She didn't think that it was a good sign.

_Oh no, he's still mad at me and doesn't want to see me, _Katniss thought to herself. _What if he doesn't come over after work? What if he never comes all night? _

She just kept waiting all day, doing anything she could to pass the time... pacing the floor, trying to clean the house, breaking down in tears every so often.

Late in the afternoon, as she was sitting on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest, she heard the back door open and then click shut.

"Peeta?" she called.

She walked out to the kitchen, and saw him standing there with his back against the door.

She didn't dare get too close. His face just looked calm... she couldn't read whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Peeta?" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

A soft, sympathetic smile crept onto his lips.

"Come here, baby." he told her, and he held his arms out to her.

She rushed into his arms with such force that he fell back against the door, and she threw his arms around his neck. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed.

"I'm so sorry, Peeta! I'm so sorry, please forgive me! I love you so much..." she wailed.

He pulled her away from him just enough so that he could take her face in both of his hands and look her in the eyes.

"I love you Katniss. I'm not mad at you." he said, and then he kissed her lips gently.

"You're not?" she sniffled.

"No." he answered. "I was a little hurt at first, but I understand why you did what you did. I know that you were trying to protect my feelings. I was more mad at Gale for putting you in that position of feeling like you were forced to choose between us. It wasn't fair of him to ask that of you..."

As he looked at her, he noticed that her eyes were all puffy and red rimmed.

"Have you been crying all day?" he asked.

"Yes." she answered.

"Did you think I wasn't coming back?" Peeta asked.

"Yes. When you left this morning and then didn't come back all day, I thought that maybe you were going to break up with me."

"I'm sorry, honey, I didn't mean for you to think that. I was just upset and needed some time to think things through, and now I'm okay. It made me realize what I needed to do." he said softly.

"And what is that?" she asked.

"Well, I understand that you are pretty famous in these parts, and I am absolutely certain that Gale is probably not the only man in Panem who has a crush on you, and most of them would take a chance on kissing you if they had the opportunity, too. I thought that maybe we could make it clear that you are off the market, you know, make it official that you belong to me..."

Katniss looked at him quizzically.

Peeta continued, "I know that we are basically being blackmailed into being engaged, but I want you to be engaged to me because you _want _to, not because you _have_ to."

Peeta got down on one knee and pulled a ring out of his pocket. He held it up to her, and it sparkled in the golden late afternoon sunlight. It was a dainty silver ring, with one oval shaped fiery red ruby in the center.

Katniss started shaking, but with happiness.

Peeta looked up at her and said, "I chose a ruby because it reminded me of you... brilliant and warm and fiery. Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?"

"Oh my gosh Peeta, YES, YES, YES! Of course I will marry you!" she cried. She pulled him up and

they hugged and kissed each other for a long time.

Finally he took her left hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger.

"I chose a ring that wasn't too big or set too high, so it wouldn't get in the way when you're hunting," he explained.

She held her hand out in front of her and admired it.

"I love it," she said. "It's perfect."

"And just so you know," Peeta said, hugging her, "I don't expect you to avoid Gale for the rest of your life. He _is_ your friend, and even though I'm not happy about what he did, I would never ask you to just give up your friend forever. I'm not going to make you choose between us. I trust you. So as long as he can respect your boundaries, I don't have a problem if once in a while you want to go out hunting with him. I can't ask you to give up something that makes you happy, that makes you... _you." _Peeta paused for a moment, than continued, "But, if he _doesn't_ respect your boundaries, _then _I might have to kill him!" he said, with his eyes twinkling.

Katniss hugged him tightly. "What did I ever do to deserve someone as amazing as you, Peeta?"

"Well, you did save my life, for one thing, so I guess now you're stuck with me." he said.

"I would be _honored_ to be stuck with you for the rest of my life, Peeta Mellark." she said, smiling.

"And I would be honored to call you _Mrs. Mellark_." he replied.

She liked the sound of that.


	17. Chapter 17

For the next few weeks, Katniss still helped Peeta in the bakery most days, but once in a while she went out to the woods... sometimes to hunt, sometimes just to walk. She had to admit, it felt invigorating to get outdoors again. She still had not sought Gale out yet though. She wasn't sure if she was ready to see him just yet.

One morning that dawned sunny and hot, Peeta had told her to take the day off.

"Go walking, or go swimming or something!" he told her. "There's no sense in you being cooped up inside all day when its so warm outside. Go enjoy yourself!"

Swimming did sound like a good idea, she thought. She knew of a few nice little ponds and lakes out in the woods where she could be alone. She put on her swimsuit under her clothes and set off for the woods.

She ended up at a spring fed lake, not far from her hunting area. The water was clean and cold, and it would feel refreshing after the long walk in the hot weather.

She started easing her way into the water, which felt cold because of the spring that fed it. She was in about thigh deep, facing out towards the middle of the lake. She closed her eyes, put her face up to the sun, fingers skimming the surface of the water. She felt so free when she was out here, far away from the capitol, from the Hunger Games.

Suddenly, she felt herself get tackled from behind, as someone launched from the shoreline and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into the cold water.

She popped her head up out of the water and gasped sharply, in shock from the cold of the water and the surprise attack. She raised her fist to defend herself against her attacker.

But when she opened her eyes, there was Gale, sitting on his ass in the shallow water near her, laughing so hard he could hardly catch his breath.

"You should have seen your face, Katniss!" he laughed.

She slapped the water hard, sending a big splash into his face.

"God damn it, Gale, don't scare me like that!" she yelled at him.

"Sorry, sorry," he said. "I just couldn't resist!"

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Same thing you are. It's hot out, and I wanted to swim. I didn't know you'd be here."

"I ought to kick your ass for sneaking up on me!" she said.

"Oh really?" he teased. "Well first you'd have to catch me!" Gale said as he dove under the water and came up behind her and splashed her.

She couldn't help smiling. She dove under the water to catch him, but every time she got close, he would swim out of her reach. For a while, it felt just like old times, like this was her and Gale without complications. They swam and jumped around and splashed each other for a long time, horsing around like children. It made her realize how much she had missed her friend.

Then one time Katniss dove under the water, and when she popped her head up, Gale was right in front of her, so close that her nose nearly bumped into his chest.

"You caught me, Catnip." he said. Then he scooped her up under her bottom, so that her legs had nowhere to go but around his waist.

She didn't like that.

"Gale Hawthorne, you put me down right this min-"

Gale cut her off by quickly clamping his hand over her mouth.

"Shhh!" he whispered. "Do you hear that?"

He took his hand off of her mouth, set her down gently in the water, and they both stood there listening. They both quickly recognized the sound as the whirr of an approaching hovercraft.

"Peacekeepers!" they both whispered in unison.

Gale grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the water and into a thicket of shrubs where they crouched down together hiding. Gale was still holding her hand, and when he noticed that she was wearing a ring on her finger, he lifted her hand up to his face to look at it.

"What's that?" he asked.

She was quiet for a moment before she answered him.

"Engagement ring," she said softly. "Peeta proposed to me."

"I see." Gale said, turning her hand in the light, making the ruby sparkle with brilliant flashes of red and orange and pink. "It's pretty."

"Thanks," Katniss replied, not knowing what else to say.

There was a quiet pause between them. Gale was still holding her hand, looking at her ring.

"Does he make you happy, Katniss?" Gale asked.

"Yes, Gale. He really does." she answered.

Gale sighed. "Well then, I guess I will be your friend and be happy for you." he said gently, as he brought her hand to his lips and ever so lightly, kissed her knuckles, just above her ruby ring, then let go of her hand.

She could hear the note of sadness in his voice.

"Thank you, Gale. That means a lot to me. Really."

They sat there quietly for a minute, until the hovercraft went overhead and passed out of sight.

"Why do you think that hovercraft was here?" Gale asked.

Katniss knew right away.

"Reaping day is coming in a couple of weeks Gale. They are getting all the districts ready for the reaping."

"Oh." was all he could say about that. "Well, I think we are safe to come out now."

They stood up and walked out of the bushes.

"I probably should get going..." Katniss said.

Gale just nodded at her, not knowing what else to say.

"I miss you Gale. I hope we can hang out again sometime." she said softly.

"Yeah, me too. I'll see you at the reaping, huh?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, yes, I will be there." Katniss said bitterly. She quickly put her clothes back on over her swim suit and headed for home.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's note- FYI- Fair warning, so no one is confused...For the rest of the story, I am altering the way the reaping and the next Hunger Games happened, to my own fictionalized version, not following the way books 2 and 3 went. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive in reading and reviewing. I hope you like it.**

**-_belladonnablush_**

Reaping Day dawned just as hot as blazes. It was one of those days that the heat felt stifling, oppressive.

_How appropriate, _thought Katniss. _Just like the government. Stifling, oppressive, able to make you feel like you can't breathe._

Just like how she felt today. Peeta was trying to be extra supportive, knowing that she would need it, but even that wasn't helping. She knew that as victors from last year, she and Peeta would be safe because they were no longer eligible to compete, but that felt like a very small consolation. She didn't want any part of the reaping, but she had to. She and Peeta would be forced to watch as the new tributes were chosen, and then to introduce themselves as the mentors that would help train them to try and survive the Hunger Games. Katniss suddenly had a new respect for Haymitch, going through this process year after year, and then watching the district 12 tributes come home in body bags.

Her nightmares had come back in full force in the last few nights, and Peeta was very upset that all the work he had put into making her feel safe was slipping away, thanks to the reaping coming around again.

The two of them made their way through the crowd of people towards the stage. They were to be positioned right at the front, so the television cameras could get shots of them as the new tributes were selected. They took their places, as the reaping was about to begin.

They saw Effie walk out on the stage and welcome everyone to the reaping. On the large television screen, a brief movie showed about the history of the games and the reaping. Then at the end, there was a close up shot of President Snow, reminding everyone that this was a very special year, a quarter quell, and that the reaping would be done slightly differently in honor of the occasion.

Katniss hated how they made it sound like such a great thing, like they should be cheering and celebrating.

President Snow made the announcement that this year, instead of a random drawing of all the eligible young men and women, that it would be _extra_ special. The President announced that he himself, along with the game making committee, had studied all the eligible participants, and that they had hand selected the two best qualified tributes from each district who would have the distinct honor of competing in the quarter quell and representing their district with pride.

The peacekeepers brought out the two large glass balls that always held all the names of the possible tributes, but this year instead of being full of thousands of slips of paper, each ball only held one envelope... one pink and one blue.

Katniss didn't like this. She wasn't sure if it was the hot weather or the reaping or both, but she suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

Effie announced, "Ladies first!"

She pulled out the pink envelope and opened it.

For a split second, Effie looked ill too, before she cleared her throat and announced the name:

"Primrose Everdeen".

Katniss felt her knees go weak and her vision went spotty. She felt Peeta's strong arm around her waist, supporting her. She knew that all the TV cameras were probably on her right now, wanting to see her reaction to her sister's name being drawn. This year, Katniss couldn't volunteer for her because she was ineligible, as a past victor. She took a deep breath, and fought hard against the waves of nausea and anger and despair that were flooding her body. Thank God she had Peeta holding her up right now, because she wasn't sure how she would have gotten through this moment alone.

She saw Prim bravely walk up to the stage. Katniss was suddenly so dizzy that she felt like everything was spinning. Peeta grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Well," said Effie. "Now for the boys, shall we?"

She picked out the blue envelope and opened it.

"Gale Hawthorne."

With that, Katniss felt the world go black as she fainted and crumpled to the ground.

When she came to, Peeta had her cradled in his arms, waving his hand to fan cool air into her face.

"Katniss? Honey, can you hear me?"

She slowly opened her eyes, and at first was comforted and relieved at the sight of Peeta's eyes staring at her, like she was safely at home in her bed and had just woken from a nightmare. But then the nauseous feeling flooded back when she realized to her horror that she was still at the reaping, and remembered that Prim and Gale had just been selected.

"No! No, Peeta, they can't do that!" she cried. "Please don't let them do that!" she wailed to him, as she clung to him for dear life.

Peeta felt helpless. All he could do was hold her and tell her to be quiet. He held her as close as he could, rocking her in his arms, as they sat there on the ground together. If she made a scene, it would surely only make things worse for Prim and Gale. He was trying to be strong and calm for Katniss, but inside, he was seething with anger. He should have seen this coming.

He knew that right this moment, back in the glamorous capitol, President Snow was sitting in his plush office in his mansion, watching this whole spectacle on live television, and was probably immensely pleased and proud of himself for the pain and punishment he had just been able to deliver upon on Katniss in one simple move.

Peeta wondered if there would _ever_ come a day when the President would stop punishing her for her suggestion about the nightlock berries that ended up saving both their lives last year. When would enough ever be enough? When everyone she cared about was dead? When there was nothing left for her to suffer? Peeta figured that he, too, would most likely be targeted for death someday, once the President found out that they were no longer just "playing" the star-crossed lovers, that they really had fallen very much in love.

_Once he discovers that his forced engagement has backfired, and that we really are engaged by our own choice, then we will probably both be dead. _Peeta thought with a shudder.

He took a deep breath. Now was not the time to think like that. He needed to be there for Katniss and help her get through this.

"Come on Katniss," Peeta said gently. "We have to get up now. You need to be strong for Prim."

She didn't know how, but she somehow gathered up the strength to stand up with Peeta's help.

She forced herself to look up at the stage, where both Prim and Gale were standing silently.

How were she and Peeta supposed to mentor them? She didn't know how she would be able to prepare Prim for what she was about to face. And Peeta and Gale didn't even like each other. How were they supposed to work together?

It was a total nightmare, no matter how she looked at it. These two people on the stage, whom she loved so much... at least one, if not both of them, would be dead soon. It was almost too much pain for her to bear.

When the new tributes were allowed time to see their family members, Kaniss rushed into Prim and hugged her fiercely.

"Oh, Prim, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault!" Katniss cried to her sister. "I wish I could change this!"

"It's okay, Katniss, it's not your fault." Prim replied. "I'll be alright. I have you to teach me!"

"I don't know how to teach you everything you need to know! I can't protect you... I can't keep you alive from outside the arena!" Katniss lamented. She didn't even know where to _start_ teaching Prim, and she wished that she didn't have to. She didn't want to teach Prim how to be a killer. She liked her the way she was... gentle, quiet, thoughtful.

Prim looked up at her big sister. "I watched you survive. I already learned a lot from you. And besides, Gale will help me, right?"

_How had Prim matured so much in a year? _Katniss wondered. She instinctively knew that Prim was right about Gale...she was sure that he would help Prim as much as he could, but when it came down to it, the game was still every man for himself. Katniss knew that never, ever again would there be a year with two winners. President Snow would rather kill _both_ remaining tributes and have no winner, than ever let two tributes win again. She and Peeta were the first, last, only time _that _would be tolerated.

After Gale finished saying goodbye to his family, he was sitting in the locked room alone. Peeta decided that this might be as good a time as any to get the uncomfortable first meeting out of the way.

He knocked and then entered the room where Gale was sitting hunched over with his elbows resting on his knees. When he saw Peeta enter, he straightened his back and sat up.

"Hello Peeta," Gale said, not very enthusiastically. "I didn't expect to see you so soon. In a hurry to send me off to the slaughter already?"

"Gale." Peeta replied, ignoring his comment. "I figured we might as well start talking now, since we are going to have to work together for the next couple of weeks."

"So let me get this straight..._ you_ are going to teach _me_ everything you know about survival?" Gale asked with a smirk. Gale found this rather amusing, since he already was far more knowledgeable about keeping himself alive under difficult conditions than Peeta ever would be, victor or not. And he assumed that he could probably kick Peeta's ass any day of the week, if he wanted to.

Peeta sighed. "Listen Gale, I'm not stupid. I know that you already have extensive knowledge about how to survive and how to hunt, which is fortunate for you. It will serve you well. What I can do for you is share how the game works... how to appeal to your sponsors, which will help keep you alive longer. You're going to have to make yourself likeable to the audience."

"None of it matters, Peeta. _None_ of it." Gale said.

Peeta was exasperated at how difficult Gale could be sometimes. He was trying to help him, and he seemed to not take any of this seriously.

"What are you talking about Gale? It _all_ matters, if you want to come back here alive!"

"I _don't_." Gale said, staring Peeta down with a steely gaze.

"What?" Peeta asked, totally confused. "What are you-"

Gale interrupted him. "I'm _not _coming back, Peeta. I already decided the minute my name got called. Well, when it got called after _Prim's."_

There was a silent pause between them, before Peeta finally asked, "You're not even going to _try_?"

Gale continued. "What I am about to tell you is between you and me only. _Not_ Katniss. Understand? I'm trusting you, as my _mentor_."

Peeta swallowed dryly. "Okay... go on."

"I have no intention of winning the game. What I am going to do is give Katniss the only thing I have left to give her. I am going to bring her sister back to her."

"You can't guarantee that." said Peeta softly.

"No," Gale agreed, "I can't guarantee it. But I will fight with every drop of blood in my body to protect Prim, to make sure she is safe and fed and that she makes it to the end. I can hunt, and I can kill the others."

"Even if your plan works, what about if you two are the last survivors?" Peeta asked. "What are you going to do then? They are never going to allow two winners again, I can promise you that."

"I will have Prim kill me." he said, dead serious.

"Gale, Prim is _not _going to kill you. You know that! You are her sister's best friend. She would feel like she was betraying Katniss."

"I'm not worried. There are a thousand ways to die. I will find a way to poison myself, or 'accidentally' fall on my knife, slit my wrists, whatever it takes."

Peeta just stared at him in silence, as it gradually sunk in that Gale was really serious, that he intended to do this.

"Why Gale?" Peeta asked, barely audible.

"Because either way, Katniss is going to lose one of us. She doesn't need _me_ anymore, she has _you_. _You're_ her best friend now Peeta, and I accept that." Gale actually managed to say it sincerely, without any hint of bitterness, even though it hurt like hell to admit it, and the words tasted sour on his tongue.

Peeta suddenly felt a surge of sympathy for Gale, as well as a great deal of new found respect.

Gale continued. "But Prim is her only sister. She can't be replaced. You and I both know that Katniss won't handle it well if Prim dies."

"Yes. She would be devastated." Peeta agreed. "But she will be if it's you, too!"

"Not as much." Gale answered. "She needs her flesh and blood more than she needs me. I am going to do this with or without your help, Peeta. But I will have a better chance of bringing Prim home if you help me."

"How?" Peeta asked.

"Well, I guess I will have to let you mentor me after all. Just teach me what I need to know to get to the end. We will play the charade that I am fighting to win, but my idea of winning will be getting Prim home safe and sound. That son of a bitch Snow has already taken enough from Katniss. I'm not going to let him take her sister too."

Peeta was truly astounded. He realized that Gale must really love Katniss a lot to be willing to sacrifice himself to save her sister.

After a long pause, Peeta finally said, "Okay, Gale. I will help you however I can. And thank you... for caring about Katniss."

Gale nodded.

Peeta reached out his hand to Gale, and Gale shook it in agreement.

"Let the games begin, Mentor." Gale replied.

Peeta hated that he would have to keep this secret from Katniss, but he knew that she would never agree to it if she found out. And as much as he hated to admit it, Gale was right- Katniss needed to get Prim back, and there was only one way to achieve that. Only one person who could make that happen... only one person who could give her that most precious gift.

Gale.

Peeta would have to play another charade for the games this year with Gale, just as he did last year with Katniss.

He'd have to go along with the act that he and Gale were friends, and that he was doing everything he could to keep him alive to win the game, when really he was only trying to keep him alive long enough to make Prim the victor.

Peeta was growing tired of playing charades.


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note- My apologies... For those of you who have pointed out Gale's age, well I'll be honest and admit that I forgot he had already turned 18. Please forgive me and use your imagination that he is still of eligible age here. It's been a while since I read the books, so there may be other slight inaccuracies along the way as well. This is just supposed to be a fun read, not necessarily 100 percent factually accurate to the books, so please be understanding, and as always, thank you for reading and hope you enjoy.**

**-_belladonnablush_**

The train ride to the capitol felt incredibly awkward to Katniss. The idea of being confined in this small space with Peeta, Gale and Prim made her feel tense and uncomfortable, especially with all the memories she had of her own train ride last year. If she was alone with any one of them, it wasn't so bad, but when they were all together, it just felt overwhelming.

She thought that she had prepared herself mentally before the reaping to be a mentor this year, but that was when she assumed she would be mentoring two people who were either strangers to her, or at most, mere acquaintances. Never in her mental preparations did this scenario reveal its ugly head as a possibility, that she might have to mentor her best friend _and_ her younger sister. She didn't know why she hadn't considered this as a possibility. In retrospect, she felt that she should have anticipated a retaliatory move like this from President Snow. This was exactly the type of psychological warfare that he liked to employ.

The next several days in the capitol went by in a blur for Katniss. She stood by and watched helplessly as her sister was transformed from a poor, unprepared girl from district 12 to a beautiful young woman for the interviews. Cinna worked with Prim, just as he had with Katniss. But this time, he went a different direction. With Katniss, he had made her the girl on fire... strong and fearless looking. But with Prim, he wanted to appeal to her younger age, her sweet, youthful innocence. He knew that people in the capitol would just eat that up, and would probably be eager to sponsor someone who had the ability to tug on their heartstrings.

He dressed her in a flowing yellow satin dress with a softly scalloped hem, reminiscent of the petals of a yellow primrose, her namesake. Her hair fell in soft ringlets around her shoulders. Her face looked dewy and radiant, with just a hint of shimmery blush on her cheeks, and pink pouty lips. Katniss thought she looked beautiful, and yet delicate and vulnerable. This was the genius of Cinna. Rather than make her a warrior, he had given her that gentle, tender look that could appeal to the masses... she could be anyone's little sister, anyone's daughter... and they would all want to protect her, to save her. That meant sponsors, and sponsors meant _survival_.

With Gale, the prep team just made him, well, still Gale, but with _infinitely_ more intensity. He looked very sharp, dressed in his expertly tailored suit, his hair cut perfectly. Katniss was actually taken aback at how incredibly, breathtakingly handsome and sexy he looked, dressed in this expensive clothing. He reminded her of the vampires she had read about in books, who were so dangerously attractive, and would lure you in with their physical beauty and their silky words, and then kill you with one bite. He was very charismatic and powerful in his interview. They portrayed him as the hunter he was. Predatory, intimidating, like a wild animal who could take down any prey he wanted to.

They played upon his being Katniss' "cousin", which of course he wasn't, but the audience didn't know that, and they loved it. Caesar commented to Gale that being part of the Everdeen bloodline must give him an advantage, and a certain amount of confidence in his own ability to survive.

"Yes," Gale agreed. "Katniss and I are a lot alike. We both have the ruthless ability to befriend you and then cut your heart out."

Katniss swallowed hard at that comment. She supposed he was right, that they had both done enough of that to each other recently.

When it came time for Prim and Gale to demonstrate their skills in front of the game makers and receive their scores, Katniss was a nervous wreck. She wasn't worried for Gale, because she already knew all too well that he had quite an arsenal of deadly skills that he used for hunting. It would be no problem for him to modify any of his traps or snares to capture and kill people rather than animals. And Gale was also quite skilled with knives and with the bow and arrow, and he wasn't squeamish about blood. So, she wasn't worried for Gale. She was worried for Prim.

Prim was not a killer, and never had been. She was a healer, like their mother. She had extensive knowledge about plants and herbs... what you could eat, and what was poisonous... what would heal you, and what would kill you. Katniss hoped that this knowledge would work to her advantage in the arena to help keep her alive. At least Katniss wouldn't have to worry about her eating any nightlock berries, because Prim would know it just as well as she did.

Gale ended up scoring a 10, which did not surprise Katniss. She wasn't sure of what exactly he had demonstrated as his skill, but it must have been pretty good.

Prim ended up scoring an 8, which Katniss thought was quite respectable, since she really had no dangerous skills. She was dying to know what Prim had done.

"I just showed them some things I knew about using plants as weapons." she explained. "I showed them how I knew which ones would cause vomiting and dehydration, how the juice of red velvet berries makes you hallucinate and see things that aren't real, and then for my last demonstration, I showed them my knowledge of Fire Ivy."

_Way to go, Prim!_ Katniss thought to herself, as she beamed at her sister.

Red velvet berries are a plump, red berry with soft velvety skin like a peach. They look tantalizing to someone who is hungry, like the tributes would be. But these berries are dangerous. Even if you don't eat the flesh, just consuming a small amount of the juice of these berries... say, squeezed into your water supply...can make a person have mindbending hallucinations that last for hours.

But the ultimate in lethal plants is the Fire Ivy, which is not widely known across Panem because it is fairly rare. Fire Ivy is a genetically altered variety of Poison Ivy, created many years ago by Panem's government scientists. If you were to touch its leaves, you would have an uncomfortable skin reaction causing the same itchy, blistering rash that Poison Ivy does, and it looks fairly similar, so most people can't tell the difference between the two plants, and assume that they are the same thing. However, what most people don't know unless they are experienced botanists, is that if you take the leaves of the Fire Ivy and crush it up into a paste with a few drops of water, the chemical reaction of the extract in the leaves with the water forms a compound so highly acidic that it can burn through any type of soft tissue, like skin, fat or muscle. It burns a hole, quickly eating away at everything in its path, destroying blood vessels in seconds, causing the victim to bleed out within minutes. But it can't eat through impermeable materials like plastic or rubber, so as long as you have a barrier between your skin and the extract, you would be safe.

"I wore rubber gloves, and showed them the Fire Ivy reaction on a thick mushroom cap. It ate a hole right through the mushroom all the way to the plate beneath it in three seconds." Prim boasted.

Katniss was very impressed. She had forgotten about the dangers of Fire Ivy. She was willing to bet that after Prim's demonstration, there would probably be plenty of Fire Ivy scattered throughout the arena, because the game makers would be enthusiastically hoping to see this sweet looking young girl wield this deadly weapon, created by the government, against her fellow tributes.

Katniss allowed herself a moment of hope, that maybe Prim had a chance of surviving the arena after all.


	20. Chapter 20

When Katniss woke up on the morning that the Games would be starting, she was already exhausted. She had been tossing and turning, screaming with horrific nightmares all night. She knew that she had kept poor Peeta up all night too, and she felt awful about it. He was so good to her, trying to soothe her to sleep and reassuring her over and over that she was safe, but in the dark of night, her brain just couldn't register that as reality.

Her nightmares always revolved around the Hunger Games... sometimes she was reliving her own game with Peeta, and sometimes she was imagining the upcoming game... having visions of watching Prim die, or watching Gale die, and being totally helpless to do anything about it. She knew that the next couple of weeks were going to be pure hell for her, total psychological torture that she wouldn't even be able to escape from in her sleep, and she was dreading it.

She and Peeta had done everything they could to prepare Prim and Gale for what they were about to face. After today, they were on their own. Katniss felt nauseous every time she thought about having to sit there and watch them on the big television screens, fighting for their lives. It would be a long, drawn out nightmare that there was no waking up from.

They gave their tributes the same valuable advice that their mentor had given them... do not step off your platform even one second before the countdown ends, or you will be killed. Do not stay at the cornucopia to collect weapons or supplies, it would be a bloodbath. Run away as fast as you can. Find Gale, Katniss told Prim. He will help you, at least for a while. Seek higher ground, find water, try to find some type of shelter in which to hide. No fires at night, it just broadcasts where you are sleeping, and when you are sleeping, you are vulnerable. And whenever you can, play for the cameras. Make the audience feel for you, make them feel a _connection_ with you. Your ability to win sponsors may determine your survival.

_And one more thing,_ Katniss thought to herself,_ please don't die. _

Katniss and Peeta stood by and watched from their viewing area, holding hands as Prim and Gale were loaded onto their platforms and raised up into the arena as the countdown ticked off.

TEN, NINE...

"Breathe." Peeta gently reminded Katniss, as he squeezed her hand. She let out the breath that she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Suddenly she was trembling all over. Teardrops spilled silently down her face. She was paralyzed with fear for Prim, and for Gale. She felt Peeta step up behind her, and wrap his arms around her, with his chin resting on her shoulder.

EIGHT, SEVEN...

"You need to be strong right now, baby. I know you can do it," Peeta whispered into her ear. "Don't let Snow see that he can hurt you. You _know_ he's watching."

SIX, FIVE...

His words gave her strength and resolve.

Peeta felt her take a deep, cleansing breath, and just like that, she forced her tears to subside. He felt her straighten her spine and stand tall. She would rather _die_ than give Snow the satisfaction of watching her fall apart on live television.

FOUR, THREE...

"That's my girl." Peeta whispered into her ear. He hugged her tighter.

TWO, ONE.

The countdown ended, and all the tributes went sprinting towards the cornucopia. Katniss struggled to see on the huge television screens where Prim and Gale were. She saw Prim first. Prim managed to grab a small pack near the edge of the cornucopia, and then took off running for the woods. Then she saw Gale, who had found a single knife with a large blade.. He was able to grab it in the blink of an eye, and then she saw him whip around with his arm outstretched, and sliced clean across another tribute's abdomen, causing a gush of blood to spill from his body before Gale ran off into the woods with his bloody knife.

The first cannon boomed, signaling the death of the tribute that Gale had just gutted.

_One down_, thought Gale.

Several more cannons fired in the following minutes as the tributes fought over supplies and killed each other.

Gale and Prim were both running as fast as they could, away from the others. Now they just needed to find each other. He was pretty sure he had seen the direction that Prim had headed into the woods before he'd taken his eyes off of her for a moment to grab the knife and kill the tribute chasing him.

"Prim!" Gale yelled.

She heard his voice, and it didn't sound too far away. She followed the direction it came from.

"Gale!" she called back.

He turned towards her voice and ran through the thick forest. Then he saw her, coming towards him.

"Prim! Come on!" Gale reached out as she closed the distance between them. He grabbed her hand and led her further into the woods.

Back at the viewing area, Katniss felt a small surge of relief, as she watched Gale take hold of Prim and lead her away.

"He's got her," Peeta said softly to Katniss. "She'll be safe for now."

Katniss nodded. Safe... _for now._

Gale and Prim ran for what felt like a very long time. Once Gale felt that they had put a safe distance between themselves and the other tributes, he told Prim that they would stop and rest for a while, and decide what their next move should be. They both sat down on the ground to catch their breath.

"I see you found a knife," Prim said to Gale. "And used it on someone!"

"Yeah, I took down one of them at the cornucopia." he replied, as he used some leaves to try to wipe the blood off the large blade, but much of it had already dried. He would have to clean it better when they found some water.

"What's in the pack, Prim?" he asked.

"I don't know yet, let's see." she said. She opened up the small pack and was happy to see that it was a first aid kit. There were tweezers, scissors, bandages, antibacterial ointment, a bottle of sterile water, and three pairs of rubber gloves.

"This is great!" she exclaimed, as she showed it to Gale. "This stuff will come in handy. Especially the gloves... I wouldn't be able to do my Fire Ivy trick without them!"

"What's Fire Ivy?" he asked. Prim told him all about her demonstration for the game makers. Gale was fascinated.

"So if you can find some, you'll actually be able to kill people with that stuff?" he asked.

"Definitely." she answered. "If I can get close enough to someone's supplies to rub the extract on it, once they touch it, they'll be dead before they know what hit them!"

He was intrigued. "What else have you got up your sleeve for secret weapons?"

"Oh, nature is _full _of deadly weapons..." she said. "as long as you know how to where to find them and what to do with them! Fire Ivy, red velvet berries, nightlock, oleander, belladonna... if I can find any of them in this arena, I can work my magic!" she said proudly.

"Wow, and I thought Katniss was dangerous!" he laughed, ruffling her hair.

Once they had rested, they decided to keep moving and try to find a safe place to camp for the night. Prim collected some edible greens she found along the way. It wouldn't be much of a dinner, but they didn't really have any way to catch anything yet, so it would have to do until they could get their hands on some more weapons and supplies.

They managed to find a stream with clean, clear running water. They would also need to find a way to store and carry water, but for now, at least they had the stream nearby. Gale waded into the stream and washed the dried blood off the blade of his knife.

Up the hill from the stream, they found a rocky outcropping where they could be fairly hidden while they slept, and they would have some protection from the elements. Once night fell, they huddled together in the small space to try and stay warm for the night. Gale told Prim to sleep first, that he would stay up and keep watch until closer to morning, then she could watch when the sun was coming up and it would be easier for her to see anyone approaching. He knew that she didn't have the same finely tuned ears and senses that he did from hunting. He would be able to sense someone approaching long before they ever saw him.

They lay next to each other in the dark quiet of the night. Prim tried hard to sleep, but despite being exhausted, she just couldn't. Before long, Gale could hear her sniffling.

"Prim?" He asked. "Are you okay?"

She turned over to face him. She was crying.

"What's the matter?" he asked her softly.

"I'm scared Gale. I don't want to be here. I just want to go home!" she sniffled.

"Come here," Gale told her, as he pulled her up to his chest and hugged her. He felt sorry for the young girl. She shouldn't have to be here. He felt very protective of Prim, just as if she was his own kid sister. That feeling only strengthened his resolve that he was going to get her out of this and make sure she got back to Katniss safely.

He stroked her hair, quieting her. "I know you're scared Prim. But we just have to get through this together, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'll get you home to Katniss soon, I promise."

"Okay Gale." she said softly. Then she added, "I'm glad you're here."

He let Prim snuggle up to him and rest her head on his shoulder. He rubbed her back soothingly.

"Sleep now Prim," he whispered. "We've got a long day tomorrow."

Gale kept softly rubbing her back until she fell asleep, then he lay there, staring up at the rock ceiling above them. He was hoping that he'd be able to do what he promised her... that he could keep her safe and get her the hell out of this God-forsaken arena.

Back in the capitol, Katniss and Peeta watched this whole scene unfold. Katniss buried her face in her hands and bawled her eyes out. She hated that she had to watch her sister go through this, but she was grateful, _so very_ grateful, that Gale was there, helping her through it.

Peeta was doing the best he could to soothe her, holding her close, drying her tears.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go to your room and get you ready for bed. You're exhausted."

The hotel they were staying in had given them both their own huge suites across the hall from each other, since they were both victors, but they always stayed together in one room or the other.

They headed to Katniss' suite, where he helped her get ready for bed and then they snuggled in under the blankets. As they lay there, spooned together for a while, she was thinking about how lucky she was to have Peeta here to take care of her, just like he always did. Her heart felt so full of love for him.

"Peeta?" she asked, seeing if he was still awake.

"Mmm?" he answered sleepily.

She turned to look backwards towards him.

"Will you make love to me?"

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at her.

"Are you sure? You're not too tired?" he asked.

"Well, I _am_ tired, but I _need_ you right now, I need to feel close to you. It will help me forget about today a little bit. I just want to forget everything except you. I just want to love you..." she said softly.

"Okay, I'll try to help you forget..." he whispered in her ear, then began trailing kisses down her neck, slowly pulling the strap of her camisole off her shoulder.

He moved unhurriedly, lingering over every inch of her skin as he kissed and caressed her. He wanted her to be able to think about nothing else but what he was doing.

When he finally made love to her, he was just as slow and deliberate, making her feel and enjoy every movement, making her pleasure last as long as possible.

When they finished, she felt wonderful. Her body felt totally relaxed and sated. She was like putty in Peeta's hands... oh, the things he could do to her.

"Thank you," she said. "That was amazing. I needed that."

"You're welcome. I'm glad I could make you feel better. Now come here, and let's get some sleep."

He pulled her in, snug against his body, wrapping his arm around her waist, and their hands together pressed against her heart. She made it the rest of the night with no nightmares.


	21. Chapter 21

The next morning, Gale and Prim decided that they needed to explore more of the arena, to find out what was around them, and see if they could locate any of the other tributes' camping sites. They also needed to see who had weapons and supplies that they badly needed.

The areas of the arena that they had seen so far were heavily wooded, which in one way was good because it provided shade from the sun and the forest provided lots of hiding places, but that also meant that it made it easier for the others to hide and sneak up on them, too. It looked like northern terrain, with sandy soil, rocky ground, lots of hardwoods, birch and evergreen trees, and fortunately, seemed to have several small streams and ponds scattered throughout. At times it was somewhat disorienting, because so much of the landscape looked the same. Prim guessed that the similarity was probably all part of the game makers' plan, to get the tributes disoriented and walking in circles. It was certainly easy to get lost here. She felt that she and Gale together would be able to manage, though, because he had lots of experience finding his way in the woods, and Prim was good at recognizing the plants that grew wild, so if Gale would lead the way, she would collect plants that they might need for food and for medicine...or for poisoning.

Prim gathered plants along the way as they walked. They snacked on the edible greens and berries as they went, grateful to have something to put in their stomachs. Then, after a few hours of walking, Prim grabbed Gale by the sleeve.

"Look Gale!" she pointed into a thicket of bushes... They were Red Velvet Berry bushes.

"I'll collect a bunch of berries, and then when the time is right, I'll find a way to poison the other tributes. When they start hallucinating, you can kill them!" Prim said excitedly.

She filled one of her jacket pockets with as many of the plump, juicy berries as she could fit.

"Well," Gale said, "Now we have a 'weapon' of sorts, we just need to find some of the other tributes."

They kept walking through the woods. A while later, Gale asked her, "Can you smell that?"

Prim sniffed the air.

"Woodsmoke." she said. Someone had a fire going nearby, they just needed to find it.

They walked a little further, following the smell and watching the sky for signs of the smoke. Eventually they found it. Their camp was near a small pond. There were three sleeping bags laid out on the ground, but right now there was only one tribute there.

"That's Sula." Gale whispered. "District four. Fishing district. See?" He pointed to what Sula was doing.

She was stirring a small pot on the fire, and she had several fish at her feet that must have been caught in the pond. She was in the process of expertly gutting the fish and dumping them into the pot. They figured that the other two tributes must have gone to look for more food. They had precious supplies that Gale and Prim needed. Now would be the time to strike when she was alone.

They decided that Gale would cause a distraction so that the girl would leave the fire for a moment, and when she did, Prim would sneak in and poison their food. Once they started hallucinating, they would be easy for Gale to kill off.

Gale started by hiding in some thick brush and throwing stones into the pond.

Sula looked up, wondering what had just made the splash. Then Gale took a long stick and started rustling the leaves in a bush next to where he was hiding.

"Hello?" the girl called. She thought it might be her allies returning. "Is that you guys?"

No one answered her. Then she thought maybe the noise was an animal that she could catch. The guys would be happy about that, she thought.

Sula stood up, and moved away from the fire, crept slowly towards the bushes where Gale was creating the diversion. She had her small paring knife with her, held out in front in a defensive stance, but Gale's knife was much bigger. She approached the bushes that Gale had been shaking, and she bent over peering into the leaves, her back to Gale.

He sprung forth, grabbing her and covering her mouth so she couldn't scream. Then with his other hand, he stabbed her in the side. He only wanted to wound her for now, not kill her just yet. He didn't want the cannon to go off and give the other two tributes with her a warning that any danger was nearby.

While he had the girl, Prim snuck down to the campsite. She crushed several of the berries into the soup that Sula had been making. She quickly washed the juice off her hands in the pond, then ran back to find Gale in the bushes.

She saw that he had the girl on the ground, sitting on top of her to hold her still, and was still covering her mouth with his hand. She was bleeding pretty heavily from her side. Prim took one of the berries from her pocket. Gale moved aside his hand for just one quick moment, long enough for Prim to shove the berry into Sula's mouth, and squeezed her cheeks to burst the berry. It only took a minute before Prim saw the change starting to happen. Sula's eyes got all distant looking, and she was looking all around, seeing things in the air that weren't there. She wasn't fighting against Gale as much any more.

Meanwhile, the two male tributes were returning to the campsite. Gale noticed immediately that one of them carried a bow. He was pretty sure he remembered the boy's name being Mica...district 5, he thought.

_Yes! _Gale thought. _I need that bow!_

"Where the hell did she go?" Mica asked the other boy, as he set down his bow. "I specifically told her not to go anywhere, stupid girl can't listen I guess!"

"Well, she's got dinner cooking, so she can't have gone too far. Let's just eat so we can put this fire out, and she can eat hers when she gets back."

The two boys started eating the soup ravenously, shoveling in bite after bite. Prim and Gale watched and waited for the reaction to start.

"I feel weird," Mica said after a few minutes.

"Me too," said the other. "Dizzy..." He stood up, and stumbled a few steps. His vision was double, his head was spinning. He was seeing stars and weird shapes floating in his vision, but when he reached out, nothing was there. He stumbled again, stepping into the campfire with one foot. He screamed from the searing heat of his foot burning, but he felt like he was moving in slow motion. He staggered towards the water, desperately wanting to cool the burning in his foot. He reached the waters' edge and took a few clumsy steps, before losing his balance. He hit his head on a large rock in the shallow pond when he fell, landing face down in the water. He drowned in only ten inches of water, and the first cannon sounded.

_Well, that was easy._ Gale thought.

Mica was so confused. He saw the boy fall into the pond, but he couldn't figure out what was going on. Like the other boy had said, he felt dizzy and uncoordinated. The trees looked like they were bending, the sun creating colorful starbursts like fireworks across the sky. He tried to take a few steps, but stumbled and fell to his knees. Mica looked down at his body, and saw huge bugs trying to tunnel into his skin. They were all over him. He reached for the knife in his back pocket and started stabbing at the bugs, which were all a cruel trick of his mind. He cut deep gashes in his flesh, across his abdomen and down his thighs, screaming and bleeding profusely, trying desperately to scrape away the bugs that didn't really exist. Soon Mica lost consciousness from all the blood loss, and he fell forward onto his knife, impaling himself in the belly. The second cannon went off.

"Wow, Prim, you weren't kidding when you said that stuff messes with your head!" said Gale.

"Told you!" she said.

Now they just had the girl. She was in the midst of her own hallucinations, writhing around underneath Gale, who was still sitting on her. Gale moved her so that she was flat on her back beneath him, and he was sitting straddled on top of her. He wanted to just get this over with as fast as possible. He raised up his knife and stabbed Sula in the heart. Then he pulled out the knife, and watched the life fade from her eyes. The third cannon boomed.

He sighed loudly. He couldn't say he felt good about killing these three kids, but if it was them or him and Prim, he was glad it was them. At least he was three people closer to getting Prim home safe and sound.

"Come on Prim, let's go grab some of those supplies." he said.

While Gale gathered up the sleeping bags, the bow, Sula's knife, and some cooking utensils, Prim quickly roasted the fish that the girl had been preparing, and then wrapped it in some leaves to carry with them to eat later when they made camp for the night. As they were putting out the fire, they heard the cannon boom two more times. Somewhere in the arena, two more tributes had just met their end.

Gale gently squeezed Prim's shoulder. "That's two more tributes closer to getting you home, Prim."

"Home sounds good." she said wistfully.

They decided to head back towards the rocky outcrop where they had spent last night, because it was good shelter and it was near the stream, so they'd have water. They walked back in silence most of the way.

When they got back to their camp, Gale washed off his knife in the stream again, they ate their fish for dinner and then just sat quietly, watching the sun set.

Gale broke the silence between them.

"Prim, are you okay? You know, with everything that happened today?"

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, we had to do it, right? How about you, are you okay?" she said.

"Yeah, I guess." Gale answered. "Where did you get all your knowledge of poisonous plants, Prim?"

She told him all about her mom, and how she had books about plants and their properties.

"Does Katniss know all that stuff too?" he asked. If she did, she'd never mentioned it.

"Some of it." Prim replied. "That's how she knew about the nightlock last year, with Peeta. But I know a lot more than she does. Katniss has always been more of a hunter, and I'm the gatherer."

"Interesting." Gale said. "Well, I'm a hunter too, so I guess you and I make a good team."

"I think we do." she agreed.

Once it got dark, they settled into the rocky outcrop, thankful to have the sleeping bags now. Gale put her on the inside so he could guard the entrance. He let her snuggle against him again to sleep, and he was glad that tonight she didn't cry.

The next morning, Prim woke early, while it was still dark out. She told Gale to go to sleep now, and she would keep watch. He slept until it was late in the morning, and the sun was getting high in the sky.

After he woke and they packed up their sleeping bags, they decided to walk in a different direction than yesterday, to see what they could find. They managed to sneak up on one tribute who was by herself. They hid in the bushes, and Gale killed her with one arrow. The cannon boomed.

_One more down, _Gale thought.

She didn't have much on her for supplies, but she did have a box of matches in her jacket, which would be good to have, for when they needed a fire.

Several hours passed by while they walked, and they didn't see any more tributes near them.

They were getting very thirsty and needed to find some water soon. They headed towards a very thick area of forest, knowing that where there is abundant plant life, there is often water.

They managed to find a small spring flowing from the rocks deep in the forest. It satisfied their thirst for now, but they really needed to find something to carry water in. Hopefully the next tributes they killed would have something they could use.

As they walked through the dense forest, Prim's keen eye spotted something she wanted.

"Look Gale, over there!" she said, pointing to a nearby patch of leafy ground cover.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Fire Ivy!" she said excitedly. "The only problem is that we don't have a safe way to carry it right now, so we'll have to just remember where it is for when we need it. Or, we can make a new camp near here, so we will have it right here when we are ready to use it."

Setting up camp did sound like a pretty good idea, since it was getting late in the afternoon and the sun would be setting soon. They found a secluded spot where they would have fairly good cover behind a grouping of pine trees and tall grass, and they set out their sleeping bags there.

Just before dark, when they were settling in for the night, Gale and Prim heard voices. Someone was approaching their camp area. It sounded like there were two tributes walking together. Gale told Prim to get down low and be quiet. He carefully crouched forward, peering through the tall grass, with his bow ready. He watched as two boys walked by just a short distance away, without even realizing that they were there. It was Farro, a district 9 tribute, and Del, from district 11.

Del and Farro set up camp down the hill from where Gale and Prim were, in a flat area covered in fallen pine needles from the pine trees all around them. Gale set down his bow for now, and watched them closely in the fading light of dusk. They didn't seem to have much for supplies, but they did have a water bottle that they were sharing. He saw one of the boys set the bottle down in front of him as he lay down on the ground to sleep.

He weighed the options about how to kill these two tributes. It would be nearly impossible to kill them both at once. Even if he took one down with his bow, he couldn't rely on Prim to kill the other with just a knife. He didn't figure she would have the stomach to just stab someone like that, and besides, he didn't want her to have to get that close to them, just in case things went bad. He didn't want to put Prim in harm's way. So that left them with their other option, the Fire Ivy.

Gale had to admit that he very much wanted to see Prim do her Fire Ivy trick, and he figured that the audience probably wanted to see it too, but the only thing the boys had that she would be able to apply it to was their water bottle. But he and Prim could really use that water bottle, so he hated to contaminate it and make it unusable. He mulled it over for several minutes, then decided that she would just have to use the bottle. It was their best chance for certain death for the two boys, and he knew that the audience and the game makers would love it, seeing such a sweet girl use such a nasty poison on someone. Gale whispered his plan to Prim.

They watched and waited for the two boys to fall asleep. One of them was supposed to be staying up and keeping watch, but he only made it about two hours before his breathing became deep and rhythmic, and soon he started to snore.

At that point, Prim took out her first aid kit and put on the rubber gloves. She double gloved both of her hands, just to be sure that she didn't get any on herself, and handed Gale the last pair to put on, just to be on the safe side while he helped her. After this, they had no more gloves left, so this was their one shot to make this work.

She moved silently in the moonlight, collecting some Fire Ivy leaves and then crushing them into a mushy, light green gel between two small rocks. While she was working on that, she had Gale dig her a small hole in the dirt a safe distance away from their sleeping area that they would later use to bury the rocks and the gloves that were contaminated with Fire Ivy. When the leaves were finely crushed, she gathered up the small amount of light green gel-like extract and held it in her gloved hand. She had Gale go to the spring, cup his hand and bring her back a small amount of water, and then sprinkle a few drops into the gel in her hand. This was very dangerous work, especially to be doing in the dark, so they had to be careful.

Once it was all prepared, they decided to move in. They silently crept towards the two sleeping tributes. Prim had the dangerous job of having to get right in front of them to obtain and contaminate the bottle, but Gale felt a little better knowing that at least she had deadly poison all over her gloved hands in case one of them woke up and went after her. Gale stayed very close to her, with his knife at his waist and his bow drawn, just in case. Prim crouched down, grabbed the bottle, rubbed her hands all over the outside of it, then unscrewed the cap and rubbed her fingers all inside the mouth of the bottle, even dropped a few drops into the water and swirled it around. She screwed the cap back on, and placed it back down on the ground. Then they backed away and retreated to their hiding place. They buried the dirty gloves and the rocks she had used, so there was no chance that they would come in contact with the poison. She knew that the extract she'd rubbed on the bottle would dry and be invisible by morning, but would still be just as lethal. Just the moisture of the skin on their hands would be enough to activate the poison. All that was left for them to do was wait... and then watch.

Gale told Prim that she should sleep for now, and that he would keep watch and would wake her up if the tributes woke. Around sunrise, both tributes started stirring. Gale reached over and shook Prim's arm to wake her. They lay in the tall grass together, watching in eager anticipation, hoping that the gruesome show was about to begin.

Back in the capitol, Katniss and Peeta were watching this too. Katniss was nervously wringing her hands. She didn't want to miss Prim's shining moment. She knew the game makers would be hoping to see this as well. If this went as planned, it would make Prim hugely popular. The spectators in the capitol always loved when a tribute found a new and exciting way to kill off their competition.

In the arena, the two boys were stretching and yawning in the early morning light.

Gale and Prim watched them, and they were _dying_ in anticipation of how this would all go. Prim had learned a lot about Fire Ivy in books, and she had seen it used on other plants, like she did with the mushroom cap for her demonstration, but she had never actually seen a person be poisoned with it right in front of her. She was morbidly curious about how bad it would really be.

Del finally sat up, and reached for the water bottle. He removed the cap and took a long drink from it.

"Hey, don't hog all the water! Gimme some before you drink it all!" Farro said, reaching out for the bottle. He finished off the rest of the water, and then put the cap back on and set down the empty bottle.

Just a few seconds later, both boys started rubbing their hands on their shirts.

"It's starting!" Prim whispered to Gale.

"Ow, my hands are stinging _so bad_!" whined Del.

"Me too!" Farro said, sounding panicky. "Both my hands are _burning! _What did you touch?"

"I didn't touch anything!" he cried, now feeling rather panicky himself at the searing heat that was building in the palms of his hands. "You saw me, I just woke up!"

Farro now screamed as he looked down at his outstretched palms. They were both developing huge blisters that were filling with blood right before his eyes. Del looked at his own hands and saw the same thing. His eyes were as big as saucers.

"_WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" _he screeched.

"I don't know, but I feel like my throat is on fire too! _I can't breathe_!" Farro squeaked out.

Just then, the blisters on both boys' hands burst with gushes of blood, and their palms now had raw, gaping wounds burning deep into the flesh. Before long, they started to see holes where all the tissue between their finger bones had liquified and was running down their arms in thick, grotesque rivers of burgundy.

Their screams were agonizing, but they didn't last long, because now their throats were burning from drinking the poisoned water.

Gale watched what was taking place before him, his hand held to his mouth in shock and awe.

He couldn't believe that Prim had done this... sweet, innocent, and apparently _deadly _Prim.

The boys were on their hands and knees... well, what was left of their hands anyway, which wasn't much. Now their lips were blistering, rupturing and disintegrating. They started gagging and retching, then vomiting blood, lots of thick, dark blood with clots and strips of their internal flesh mixed in it. The skin on their necks started to sag and fall apart as the Fire Ivy ate through the delicate tissue of their throats. Soon, the only noise was of choking, suffocating, and then finally silence as both boys slumped to the ground and died in puddles of their own liquified flesh and blood.

The cannon fired twice.

"_Holy shit, Prim!_" Gale said. "That stuff is scary!"

"Mmm-hmm." Prim nodded knowingly, with an "I told you so" smirk on her face.

Gale turned and looked at the young girl, absolutely astounded by what he had just witnessed. He was way more than impressed. He was so proud of this girl whom he had come to think of as his "adopted" little sister. Turns out she wasn't squeamish at all like he thought she would be.

He grabbed Prim in a bear hug, lifted her up and spun her in circles, causing her to shriek and giggle.

"You did it Prim! You did it! I'm so proud of you!" Gale exclaimed.

He set her down on the ground, and they stood there looking at each other, both beaming.

He reached out, gently grasped her chin with his thumb and index finger and lifted her face up to look him in the eyes.

"You know Prim, I think there just may be a hunter hiding somewhere inside of you after all!" Gale declared.

Gale's thoughts were going a million miles a minute.

_I have GOT to teach this girl how to hunt! _He thought to himself, excitedly. _How awesome would it be to hunt with her AND Katniss together when we get back-_

Suddenly Gale's thoughts came to a screeching halt. The smile disappeared from his face, and his eyes clouded over, as he realized, _he would never be going back. _Only Prim. He would never be able to hunt with the two sisters, would never get to watch Prim grow up.

Prim saw the change in his face, and it worried her.

"What's wrong Gale? What is it?" she asked.

Gale shook off the sadness that had just crashed onto him, and forced a faked smile onto his lips.

"Nothing you need to worry about, kiddo. Come on, help me get our stuff packed up. Let's get out of here. We've got more tributes to knock off so you can go home!"

Katniss had watched this whole scene on the huge television screens back in the capitol, and was totally overwhelmed by the spectrum of emotions it had brought on. She was so proud of Prim. People all around her were talking about what had just happened. Suddenly Prim was a star. But Katniss had also seen Gale, and it made her feel overcome with sadness. She had seen his face go from elation to sorrow, and it was like she could read his mind. Gale was getting attached to Prim, and he had suddenly remembered in that moment, that one of them was going to have to end up dead.

And if she knew her best friend, he would volunteer to be the one to die, so that young Prim could live.

Katniss wanted so badly to cry, but she had no tears left, so she just buried her face in Peeta's shoulder and clung to him for dear life.


	22. Chapter 22

A few days passed by, and Prim and Gale were still surviving. Katniss was exhausted from watching the game on the television screens all day, every day. Her stomach was constantly in knots from the anxiety of watching Prim and Gale, and worrying that any second, one or both of them could die. Katniss had recently developed a huge amount of empathy for the all the other mentors before her...like Haymitch. Now she understood why he preferred to be drunk as much as possible... she could see why he would want to do anything possible to dull the pain. Having to watch this when you had a connection to the tributes was torture.

She felt incredibly lucky to have Peeta to go through this whole wretched process with her. How awful it must be for all the other mentors, to have to sit through all this alone every year, reliving your own nightmares, and experiencing a whole new game of horrors, trying against the odds to keep your tributes alive. She couldn't even imagine how she would have been able to do it, if she didn't have Peeta's unwavering support to help keep her sane.

Another day of watching was beginning. Katniss and Peeta took their places, sitting together, to watch the huge television screens showing the battle for survival in the arena. She reached over and took Peeta's hand in both of hers, and he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"You holding up okay?" he asked her.

"I guess." she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"There aren't that many tributes left." Peeta said to her softly. "This will all be over soon and we can go home."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing." she said, her eyes looking worried. "Prim and Gale are getting down to their hardest competition now. The few that are left are careers. And then, just each other..." she let her voice trail off.

Even Peeta, who always seemed to be able to comfort her with his words, didn't know what to say to that.

He leaned towards her, and rested his forehead against hers.

He whispered, "Just pray that one of them gets to come home with us."

She closed her eyes, and he saw a tear fall silently down her face. He wiped it away with his finger, and then cupped her face with his hand and softly kissed her lips.

There was nothing else to say.

They turned their attention to the screens, to what was going on in the arena.

They were watching an intense battle between a girl named Raven and a boy named Garrick. They were both ruthless and lethal. Garrick was a spear thrower with a strong arm. Raven's weapon of choice was a hatchet, which she could throw with deadly accuracy. A few moments ago, she had spotted him walking through the woods alone. She had managed to silently stalk him through the woods until she was very close to him. She hid herself behind a tree, and when she felt she had a clear shot, she lifted her arm and threw her hatchet as hard as she could. But Garrick's trained ears had heard the _swish_ of her nylon jacket as her sleeve grazed the trunk of the tree when she threw her weapon. He spun around in the blink of an eye, causing the hatchet to go whizzing by his head. He saw Raven dart out from behind the tree and start running away. He pulled out his spear and threw it at the girl who was now defenseless. His spear hit her in her lower leg and stuck into her calf.

"Ow!" she yelled, as she stumbled and fell. Garrick was running towards her. She fumbled to pull the spear out of her leg. He was closing in on her. She finally managed to free the spear just as he reached her and lunged for her. She held onto the spear and rolled out of his reach. Garrick quickly recalculated his move and went for her again, reaching to retrieve his spear from her hand. Raven was on her back, kicking at him. As he lunged in towards her, she wrapped her legs around his ankles, causing his feet to go out from under him. As he fell awkwardly onto her, she lifted the spear in her hand and thrust it towards his abdomen. He realized it just a moment too late, and he was unable to stop the momentum of his fall. He fell onto his own spear, impaling himself so that it went through his belly and out his back.

Raven rolled his body off of her, pulled the spear out, and then used it to stab him with it two more times in the abdomen, ensuring his death.

The cannon boomed.

"Thanks for the spear!" she said to Garrick's lifeless body as she pulled it out of him. She looked down at her calf where he'd hit her with the spear a few minutes ago. It was very painful, and she was bleeding, but she could still walk on it. She limped over to where her hatchet was stuck in the ground and retrieved it.

Raven did a mental count of who was left in the arena. There was Curran, who was another career, who she figured would probably be her hardest competition to kill. There was the young blond girl... "Poison Prim", she thought she'd heard some of the other tributes call her. And then there was the tall, hot guy who was allied with her, the hunter.

_What a shame to have to bury my hatchet in a body like his! _Raven thought to herself.

She set out walking, on a mission to find someone else to kill. She could almost taste victory.

Not far away, Gale and Prim had walked out of the woods into a meadow of knee high grass waving gently in the wind, one of the few clearings they'd seen in the whole arena. Gale had decided that this would be a good place to teach Prim a little about bow hunting, while he still had the chance. He hoped that maybe it would give her something to remember him by, and he had a feeling that she just might have some of the innate talent that her sister had. He dropped off their supplies at the edge of the woods and brought her out into the clearing.

"Come here, Prim. I'm going to start teaching you how to hunt. I'll start teaching you the basics, and then when you get home, Katniss can work with you and teach you everything you need to know. She's the best, and she's a good teacher."

"But I want _you_ to teach me, Gale. I've never had a brother, and I kind of think of you like that now. I feel like you brought out this side of me, so it's _our_ thing, you know? I want to learn from _you_." Prim said.

Gale sighed. "You know I can't be there to finish teaching you, Prim, or I would."

"Why do you always talk like that, Gale?" she demanded.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like you're giving up! Like you have no hope that maybe we could both live!"

"Because, Prim, that is_ never_ going to happen. There is _no_ chance that we will both get out of this." Gale said sadly.

"How do you know that? They let Katniss and Peeta both win! Why not us?"

"Because the head game maker who let that happen last year? He's dead now. That was his punishment for letting two tributes win. So I can _promise_ you that the new head game maker won't make that same mistake again." he explained.

"Well, then let me die then!" Prim said defiantly. She was standing right in front of him, her eyes just as bright and fiery as Katniss' were whenever she argued with Gale. "I think we both know that I'm the weakest link here! That I would have been dead a long time ago if I hadn't had you here to protect me! If one of us deserves to live and go home, it's you!"

Gale pulled Prim in and hugged her fiercely.

"You are so much like your sister!" he whispered hoarsely.

He held her tight with one arm wrapped around her shoulders, and used his other hand to quickly wipe his eyes that had welled up with tears. He didn't want Prim to see him get so emotional. Once he had dried his eyes, he pulled her away and held her at arms' length, with his hands on her shoulders.

"Prim, I made a promise to Peeta that I would get you home safe and sound to Katniss, and I intend to keep my word. I wish I could go home with you, but I can't, so please don't try to change my mind. Just let me do this for you, let me help you win, and promise that you will remember me, okay?" Gale felt his eyes getting watery again.

Prim threw herself into Gale's arms again and started crying.

"I don't want to just _remember_ you, Gale! It's not fair!"

Gale held her close, rubbing her back to try to soothe her. "I know it's not fair, but it's the way it has to be."

Back in the capitol, watching this whole scene unfold on live television, Katniss had heard what Gale said about the promise he had made. She whipped her head around to look at Peeta questioningly.

Peeta just solemnly nodded his head at her.

"Gale promised you that he would sacrifice himself for Prim?" she asked, angry that she didn't know about this.

"Yes." Peeta admitted quietly.

"When did you two decide this?" she demanded.

"Back on reaping day." Peeta explained. "I went to talk to him about mentoring, and he told me he had already decided that he would do everything he could to help Prim win... That you needed Prim more than you needed him, now that you have me to be your best friend."

Katniss' head was spinning. It was _that_ long ago, at the reaping? And Peeta had kept it from her all this time?

"Well, isn't that convenient for you? I don't suppose you even tried to talk him out of it!" she snapped.

"Katniss, what was I supposed to say? 'No, Gale, you should _definitely_ save yourself and let Prim die'? There are only two options here! And either way, you're going to suffer, and I hate that! But if my only choice is either to save your friend or save your sister, then yes, I am going to choose to save your sister! And I made that choice because I love you and I know you need her!"

Katniss buried her face in her hands and sobbed.

Peeta put his arm around her. "I know you're mad at me for not telling you, and you have every right to be, but think about it! Even if there had been no promise, do you honestly think that Gale would have done otherwise? I may not see the greatness in Gale that you do, but I _did_ see on that day, and every day since then, how much Gale cares about you. And if the last thing he can do on this earth is to save your sister's life for you, he is going to do it, whether I agree with it or not."

Katniss looked up at Peeta and tried to stop crying.

"I know." she whispered. "I think deep down I already knew he would. It's just that hearing he _promised_ to do it breaks my heart."

She leaned against Peeta and let him hold her. She knew that none of this was Peeta's fault and she shouldn't stay mad at him. He was just another pawn in the government's game, just like she was, just like Prim and Gale were. President Snow always made sure that there was plenty of pain and suffering to go around.

Katniss sighed sadly, and she and Peeta looked up to the television screens again, grudgingly returning their attention to what was going on in the arena.

The game makers were still showing Gale and Prim in the meadow. Apparently they had become the big fan favorites this year, just as Peeta and Katniss had been last year, so they were getting a lot of airtime.

Prim had calmed down and agreed to let Gale teach her how to use the bow and arrow. She wanted to have this one moment, a happy memory of her time with Gale in the arena, even if it was just a very brief reprieve from fighting for their lives.

Gale was standing next to her, showing her how to hold the bow, and how to line up the arrow and aim towards a target.

"Watch me, and then you can try." Gale said. He pointed towards a birch tree, the only white tree in a whole group of evergreens on the edge of the meadow, near where their sleeping bags and supplies were sitting. He aimed, pulled back, and landed an arrow right smack in the middle of the birch tree's trunk.

"Now you try." Gale said, as he handed her the bow. He helped her with her stance and showed her how to aim and pull back.

She took her shot, and it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.

"Not bad for a first time!" Gale encouraged her. He handed her another arrow. "Do it again."

She aimed, pulled back, and let go. This shot was better, it landed just a few feet away from the birch tree.

"Fantastic!" he clapped. "Do it again!"

She took a third shot, and this one landed at the foot of the birch tree, and stuck into one of its roots.

"See, Prim? You're a natural! I hope Katniss is watching you right now, she's going to be so proud of you!"

Prim beamed at him. She never thought that she would enjoy this, but she was.

"I'll be right back." Gale said, as he ran over to the edge of the meadow and collected all the arrows. He ran back to her and handed her one. "You want to keep practicing?" he asked.

"Sure!" she said. He stood close to her as she took aim at the birch tree again, and started to pull back.

Just then, Gale heard a branch snap behind them, and he immediately sensed danger.

"Prim! Get down!" he said sharply, as he pushed her down into the tall grass, and he spun around to look backwards. He saw a movement in the woods. Prim had his bow, and he couldn't afford the few seconds it would take to retrieve it without losing sight of whoever was after them, so he just took off sprinting towards the woods, with only his knife as a weapon.

He saw a hatchet go flying by his head and landed in the grass behind him.

Gale felt his heart skip a beat at how close that hatchet had come to his head. He glanced back and saw that Prim was still hiding in the tall grass.

_Good girl. Stay there. _Gale thought to himself, as he kept running towards the attacker.

He saw Raven in the woods, taking aim at him again, this time preparing to throw a spear. They ran at each other full speed, though Gale could tell that she had some kind of leg injury because she was limping a little and there was a bloodstain on her pants. Raven was holding the spear up high, but she didn't get the chance to throw it before Gale leaned forward, throwing all his body weight into her with his shoulder, and knocked her to the ground.

She was still clutching the spear as she fought against him. They were rolling around on the ground, fighting over control of the spear. Raven managed to quickly roll herself on top of Gale and held the spear up high, struggling to bring it down on him. He was holding his hands on the spear too, trying to prevent her from stabbing him with it. She kept trying to pull the spear out of his grip, and his hands were slipping, getting cut on the blade as she pulled it backwards sharply, over and over. His hands were dripping blood down his arms and down onto his face and neck.

Then he got an idea. The next time she yanked the spear backwards, he suddenly let go of it, causing her to lose her balance with her backwards momentum. He took the opportunity to quickly roll himself over, throw Raven down onto her back, sat on top of her and ripped the spear out of her hand. The pain in Gale's hands from the cuts was excruciating, but fortunately the adrenaline coursing through his body helped to dull it a bit. He took the spear and thrust it upwards into her ribcage once, then pulled it out and thrust it into her ribs again, puncturing her lung.

Her eyes opened wide with shock. She reached for the spear's handle, but she suddenly felt weak and groggy. Gale pulled the spear out of her chest again. He was about to stab her with it once more, but then he saw her suck her breath in, followed by a violent coughing fit. She coughed up huge mouthfuls of blood, some of which splattered onto Gale's face and upper body. He wiped his sleeve across his face, disgusted by the blood spatter that he'd just been covered with. She coughed and choked on her own blood until she finally succumbed to both blood loss and lack of oxygen.

The cannon boomed.

Gale rolled himself off of the dead girl, exhausted by their struggle. He lay there for a minute, catching his breath.

Then he remembered Prim, alone in the meadow. Prim!

He jumped up and ran back to the meadow, trying to remember where she had been lying in the tall grass.

He found her, still there, hiding and clutching her leg, crying softly. She was so relieved to see him.

Gale noticed that she had one of her boots off.

He crouched down next to her, and asked what was wrong. She removed her hand, which was covered in blood, and revealed a deep gash on her ankle, and a puddle of blood in the grass beneath it.

"Oh my God, Prim, what happened?" he asked.

"The hatchet that got thrown at you." Prim explained. She pointed to the hatchet that was still stuck in the grass by her leg. "It hit my ankle when it landed in the ground. The blade cut right through my boot. It hurt so bad, but I knew I couldn't cry out because if you knew I was hurt, you would have been distracted and probably would have gotten yourself killed. So I just had to lay here and be quiet and try to control the bleeding."

"How bad is it?" Gale asked.

"Pretty bad." she admitted, sniffling as she wiped her tears with her sleeve.

Gale took a closer look at the cut, and he found that she was right. He touched it and could see her ankle bone. For now, he put her boot back on her foot and tied it tightly to help control the bleeding.

"You're hurt, too." Prim observed. "Let me see your hands."

Gale held out her hands to her, and she studied his injuries. He had several cuts across the palms of his hands.

"What's all the other blood on you? Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked.

"No, just my hands. The blood on my face and chest is just from the struggle." he told her.

"Gale, I need to get to my first aid kit with our supplies so I can dress our wounds, and we need to find some water to cleanse the cuts. There is a small bottle of sterile water in the first aid kit, but that won't be nearly enough, not even for one of us. The problem is that I'm not sure how well I can walk."

"No problem." Gale said, as he scooped her up in front of him and carried her across his arms.

"I only meant that I might need to lean on you! You don't have to carry me! You're injured too!" Prim exclaimed.

"Just let me carry you, Prim, at least until we can clean your wound and get the bleeding stopped. The more you try to walk on it, the more blood you're going to lose. We've come all this way, I'm not going to let you bleed to death from one stupid cut on your ankle!"

"Oh, fine." Prim sighed. "Just until I can get it bandaged!"

Gale carried her to the treeline at the edge of the meadow, where they picked up their supplies, and then they continued on. They needed to find water, and find a safe place to make camp for the night.

He carried her for a long time, but finally he was exhausted and his hands were throbbing with pain from holding her. He had to set her down.

Prim knew he felt bad, so she tried to comfort him. He had already gone above and beyond in trying to take care of her, and she was very grateful.

"I'll be fine, Gale, really. You've already carried me such a long way! I'm sure I can limp on it." she said.

They slowly continued on, with Prim holding onto Gale's arm for balance as she limped along next to him.

In the capitol, Katniss was watching the coverage of the arena, watching Gale and Prim limp along together, both of them tired, hungry, thirsty and injured. Besides them, there was only one tribute left, Curran, who was a career, and he was uninjured. Katniss was trying to remain optimistic, but the reality was that she was beginning to lose hope that either her friend _or_ her sister would be coming home alive.

If they had to go up against Curran before they had time to rest and recuperate, the odds would _definitely _not be in their favor.


	23. Chapter 23

Prim and Gale walked for what felt like a very long way, but still they could not find water. They were exhausted, and Prim was starting to get dizzy from hunger and blood loss from the cut on her ankle. They were traveling across an area of the arena full of tall oak trees, and the ground was covered with a thick carpet of fallen, dried brown leaves. Gale knew that Prim was having a hard time walking on the soft, uneven layers of foliage, and the rustling noise of her shuffled gait through the dry, crunchy leaves was loud and conspicuous. Anyone within earshot would hear them approaching for sure. Plus, he noticed that she was still dripping blood from her boot and he wanted to get her off her feet.

"Come here, Prim." Gale said. "Let me carry you until we get out of these oak leaves."

"No, I'm fine. I can walk." she protested.

"I wasn't giving you the option." he retorted. "I know you can't help it, but you are making too much noise. It will be quieter- and safer for both of us- if you just let me carry you until we get to where the oaks start to thin out over there." He pointed ahead several hundred feet, where there were less oak trees and more pine and hemlock trees.

Prim frowned, but stopped walking. She allowed Gale to scoop her up in his arms again. She saw him wince with pain as the wounds in his hands opened up again from lifting her. She hated that she was causing him pain.

"Gale-" she started, but he interrupted her.

"Shush!" he silenced her.

He carried her the rest of the distance through the oak leaves, and Prim had to admit, that even carrying her in his arms, Gale moved in almost perfect silence. It was definitely much quieter than when she'd been limping along next to him.

They finally reached an area where there were far fewer leaves on the ground. Here there were abundant pines and hemlocks, so all that was covering the ground was a layer of soft, dried pine needles. He carefully set her down, and then looked around. There was still no water anywhere in sight, and the sun was getting low in the sky.

Gale was bitterly disappointed.

"Prim, I think we are just going to have to stay here for the night. It's going to be dark soon, and we won't be able to see where we're going. At least here we can have some camouflage under the hemlocks. We won't have water to clean our injuries, so we'll have to just make do with the small bottle in your first aid kit. Hopefully it will be enough for your ankle, at least."

"We'll share it." she said.

"No, we won't." Gale told her. "Your ankle is injured much worse than my hands. I'll just use some of the antibiotic ointment and wrap them with a bandage, and that will be fine. We're almost to the end of our time in the arena anyway, so..." Gale let his voice trail off.

Prim got angry. "Don't you _dare_ say that you'll be dead soon, anyway, Gale Hawthorne! _Don't you dare give up on me now!"_

He hugged his friend.

"Oh, Prim," he whispered. "Always the optimist."

Then he let her go, and said, "Come on, let's find a place to settle in and hide."

They found a huge hemlock tree nearby, with large, sweeping low branches that hung all the way to the ground. They would easily be able to both lay underneath the canopy of branches without being seen from outside. They pushed their sleeping bags and supplies under the branches, up against the trunk of the grand hemlock, then sat down just outside the tree with the first aid kit to fix themselves up as best they could before the sun set and they lost their light.

Gale gingerly removed her boot, and found that it was filled with blood. Her whole foot was wet with it. The cut was red and raw and inflamed. He looked at the small bottle of sterile water in the kit and then looked up at Prim. There wasn't going to be _nearly_ enough water here to clean it all and keep the cut from getting infected.

He closed his eyes for a moment, as he hung his head, and pressed his fist to his forehead. He suddenly felt so hopeless. They had come all this way, and now he couldn't even do something so simple for her, like clean her wound.

He felt Prim's small hand reach up and pull his fist away from his forehead. She held his hand in both of hers. He opened his eyes and looked up at her. Her pretty eyes looked so much older than they had just a short time ago, when she had cried herself to sleep against him on their first night in the arena. Her childlike innocence had left her eyes, but now there was strength and maturity, and trust in her friend..._so much_ like what he saw when he looked at her sister. Just the thought of Katniss made his heart ache.

Prim smiled tenderly at him.

"It's going to be okay, Gale. Whatever happens. If we both live, that would be the best. But if we both die here, well, I guess that will be okay too. At least we won't die alone. We'll have each other. We'll be together until the end."

He pulled her to him and they hugged each other tight.

Just then, something landed softly next to them. It was a silver parachute. They smiled broadly at each other. Gale reached for it to see what was inside. Whatever it was, it was heavy.

He opened the bottom, and found a large bottle of water, plenty to clean their wounds and still have water left to drink, and a package of bread and cheese to eat.

Somebody out there wanted them to live.

"Thank you!" Gale said as he looked around. He wasn't sure where the cameras were hidden, but he was sure that somewhere nearby there had to be cameras on them. He wanted to make sure that whoever sent this gift knew how grateful they were.

He immediately set to work cleaning and dressing Prim's ankle, and he put the antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit on it. Once it was all bandaged up, Prim took Gale's hands one at a time and did the same, cleaning out each cut, applying the ointment, and then wrapping gauze around his hands.

When they were all cleaned up, they gratefully tore into the bread and cheese that had been dropped to them. It tasted _so_ good. It felt like they hadn't eaten bread in ages, and it was a welcome treat. The bread made Prim think of Peeta, and she hoped that he and her sister were holding up okay through all of this.

When they finished eating, they cleaned up their mess from the first aid kit and the packaging that the food had come in. They figured that even though it was still light out, they might as well crawl into their hiding place beneath the branches of the hemlock and get some much needed rest. They lay next to each other, close together, and Prim rested her head on Gale's shoulder. They closed their eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

About half an hour later, Gale woke suddenly with the feeling that someone was nearby. He listened closely. Sure enough, he could hear someone walking slowly in the distance, their footsteps softly crunching the sticks and dry leaves on the ground. He woke Prim and told her to be quiet and still. Gale crept towards the edge of the hemlock branches and looked out. There he was... it was Curran, walking through the oak leaves that Gale and Prim had passed through not long ago.

Gale could tell that Curran was tracking them. He had heard that Curran was an expert tracker. It hadn't been hard for him to follow them, since Prim had been leaving a trail of blood drops all day. Fortunately, whenever Gale carried her, it made it a little more difficult. Gale was glad that he had carried Prim through the oak leaves, because it had lessened her bleeding, and whatever blood drops there were, had been strewn all over the place whenever the wind blew, scattering the red-dotted leaves across the dry ground, effectively hiding their trail.

He saw Curran sit down several hundred feet away and decide to make camp for the night. He knew that Prim and Gale were somewhere nearby, he just needed to flush them out. Gale noticed another thing. Curran was wearing some type of body armor, a hard, shiny covering over his torso that would make it very hard to kill him.

"What are we going to do, Prim?" Gale whispered very quietly. "It's getting dark, and he is too close to us for my comfort. I can't use my bow because my hands are so torn up, and even if I could, he is wearing body armor, so it would be an exceptionally difficult shot to kill him. I'd have to hit him in the face or throat, in the dark, which ordinarily I might have the confidence to do, but with my hands so injured, there is no chance that I would be able to be that accurate. I can't send you in there, it's too dangerous. But we can't just wait here for him to kill us, either!" Gale sighed.

"It's do or die time, Gale." Prim whispered. "This is the end. We've come too far to just lie here in fear and wait to be slaughtered."

"Do you have an idea in mind?" he asked. "Because I've got nothing."

Prim reached into her pocket and pulled out her last few Red Velvet Berries, then brought her eyes up to meet Gale's.

"I'm going to poison him and then we kill him." she said.

"No." Gale said adamantly. "I'm not letting you get that close to him. He's a killer Prim! And you're injured!"

"They've _all_ been killers, Gale. Yet here we still are. Curran will have to sleep sometime. I can creep down there on my hands and knees if I have to, and you can cover me. We just have to get him to consume the berries, and then he'll be easy to kill."

"And how do you propose to poison him, Prim? Hmm?"

Prim looked down at Curran and studied his surroundings.

"There." she said, pointing. "He's got a water canteen set out in front of him, I only need to squeeze a little juice into the canteen, and once he drinks it, we've got him!"

"That's easier said than done, Prim! That canteen is _right in front of him! _You can't get that close, it's too dangerous!"

"Have you got a better plan?" she asked.

"No." Gale admitted.

"Don't worry. There are two of us and only one of him. We have the advantage. This is our only shot, Gale. We have to take it. If we don't, the game makers will probably find some way to push us together anyway to get the action moving along, and I'd rather strike when we're ready than be forced into a situation we aren't prepared for."

Gale hadn't considered that possibility, that the game makers might force them into a confrontation just to keep the game exciting, but she was right. They were running out of time and options.

He reluctantly agreed to let her try poisoning Curran's water. He didn't feel comfortable about it, but they really didn't have any other choice.

They waited a few hours until Curran was asleep, then began creeping their way silently over to where he lay. Gale brought his knife and his bow, too, even though he didn't think he'd be able to use it. He just felt more confident having it with him. He hid in the bushes nearby. Prim was going to have to go the rest of the way on her own. She crept silently in the pale moonlight towards the sleeping tribute, until she was right next to him. She moved so slowly, and didn't even dare take a breath. She reached down and put her fingers on his canteen. She started to lift it off the ground, carefully...carefully...

And then a strong hand grabbed her by the wrist.

She found herself staring into the cold, hard blue eyes of Curran.

"Well, well!" he hissed. "If it isn't Poison Prim herself! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist sneaking over here."

_SHIT! _Gale thought. He was in a panic. How was he going to save Prim?

Curran stood up quickly, pulling Prim up with him by the wrist.

"What have you got in your hands there, little girl?" he asked menacingly.

Curran grabbed Prim's hands and forced them open.

"Red Velvet berries? Now that's not very nice Prim. Maybe I should let you have a taste of your own medicine!"

He closed her fists over the berries and squeezed them, crushing the berries in her hands. Then he started forcing her hands towards her face...towards her mouth.

She fought against him, but he was much stronger than she was.

"Where's your boyfriend, now, Prim, hmmm? He's not going to come to your rescue?"

Gale had to do something. If he just ran over there, Curran might hurt Prim. He needed the element of surprise. He needed to use his bow.

He couldn't hold it right with the thick bandages on his hands, so he pulled all the gauze off in a swift movement, and the pain it elicited made him see stars. But he didn't care.

He grasped his bow, lined up his target, aiming for Curran's throat, and pulled back. The pain in his hands was killing him as the cuts started dripping blood down his arms again, and his eyes filled with tears from the agony of his torn flesh pulling on the bow.

He shot... and he missed.

"_Fuck!"_ Gale cursed himself.

The arrow whizzed by, just inches from Curran's neck. But it was enough of a distraction that Curran whipped his head around to see what it was, and in that instant, Prim noticed that his body armor didn't extend _all_ the way down his torso, just to his hips. She brought her knee up as hard as she could and nailed Curran with a swift kick to the groin.

The moment of surprise and intense pain caused Curran to let go of her as he doubled over. Prim ran away from him as fast as she could, towards the bushes where Gale was standing.

"_Fucking little bitch!" _Curran hissed at her, as he stood there hunched over, holding his abdomen.

"Come on! Come on!" Gale yelled, waving her over towards him. He reached out to take her hand, but then she noticed that his hands were bare and bleeding again.

"Don't touch my hands Gale! There's berry juice all over them! If you get it in your cuts, you'll hallucinate! Just run! I'll follow you!" she cried. "_JUST GO! Get us out of here!_"

Gale started running, but he didn't know where he was heading. He needed to find somewhere they could hide, but where? For now, the most important thing was to put some distance between themselves and Curran, while he was momentarily at a disadvantage.

He looked over his shoulder, making sure Prim was right behind him. Gale was scanning the woods around him as they ran, searching for safety. Fortunately there was a lot of moonlight tonight so at least he could see where he was going.

Gale's brain kicked into survival mode. He saw a rocky hill up ahead with thick forest above...they would be able to take cover in the trees. It was their best shot. He sprinted towards the rocky hill then reached back to grab Prim and help her up the hill.

But Prim wasn't there.

_Oh shit, oh no! _Gale thought to himself, and panicked. Where had he lost Prim? She had just been with him a moment ago... How long had it been since he'd looked back at her? Two minutes? Maybe three? Then it dawned on him, and he suddenly felt sick. In his adrenaline-fueled rush to find a place for them to run to and hide, he had forgotten that Prim's ankle was injured. She couldn't keep up with him.

He turned and started running back where they had just come from. He wanted to scream her name, but he didn't dare. Then Curran would know that she had become separated from him.

He frantically searched the woods for her. Where the hell was she?

Then he saw it up ahead...The glint of a silver blade being raised in the moonlight. He knew that Prim didn't have a knife. Curran did.

_No, no, no, please no! _Gale thought as he sprinted towards the movement.

Curran had Prim on her back on the ground, straddling her, with his knees pinning her arms to the ground.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me now, Prim." Curran said, taunting her. He ran his hand down the side of her face and rested it on her cheek. His touch gave her the chills. It was like being touched by a venomous snake.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you? I bet Gale _fucks you senseless_ every night! _I would if I were him."_ he whispered in her ear.

"Shut up!" Prim said sharply. "Don't you talk about Gale like that!"

"Why not?" Curran asked, amused by her anger. "Oh, that's right, he's your cousin, isn't he? Well, I'm sure a minor detail like that doesn't even matter back in district 12, does it?" Curran had his face just inches from hers.

Prim spit right in his face. That really pissed him off.

Curran lifted his knife and thrust it into Prim's chest. Her eyes opened wide with the pain. He pulled out the blade, and then thrust it in again.

At that moment, Gale arrived and saw what was happening. He was overcome with dread and nausea and anger... burning, seething, hateful anger.

If Gale had been thinking clearly, he would have just slowly walked over and made himself an easy target. He would have let himself be sliced open by Curran, and he could have just lay there and bled to death with Prim, because it would be less painful than the alternative of returning to the capitol and having to face Katniss and telling her that he'd failed her.

But Gale wasn't thinking clearly, as he watched helplessly while Curran laughed at Prim's suffering.

All he was thinking was revenge... that he was going to _kill this motherfucker_ for hurting her.

Gale flew into a blind fury, fueled by his rage and despair. He ran at Curran and tackled him off of Prim's still body. Curran still held the large knife in his hand. They rolled around on the ground, both wanting to kill the other. Gale finally managed to get himself on top of Curran and he grabbed onto his arm that held the knife. He held Curran's wrist and slammed it down into the rocky ground beneath them over and over, until he felt both of his wrist bones snap, and his hand went limp and dropped the knife.

Then Gale rolled Curran over and lifted him up in front of him, getting his head in a headlock in the crook of his elbow, choking the life out of him. Curran fought against him in vain, his broken wrist flopping as he tried to peel Gale's arm from around his throat so he could breathe. But Gale was strong, and he was not letting go. After a few minutes, Curran started to go limp in Gale's arms as he succumbed to asphyxiation. At that moment, Gale leaned down, and reached for the knife that Curran had used on Prim. And with the speed and strength borne of years of hunting and slaughtering animals for survival, Gale stood up in the moonlight, taking Curran with him, lifted his elbow that was holding up Curran's head, and with his other hand, sunk in the knife and slit Curran's throat from ear to ear.

A huge gush of blood burst forth from Curran's throat, and the cannon boomed. Gale dropped the tributes body like it was a piece of trash, letting it fall to the ground. He dropped the knife down next to him as well.

Then it dawned on Gale... there had been no cannon for Prim. She was still alive! Maybe he could still save her!

He rushed over to her side and knelt down next to her. Though she lay still and felt cold, he could see that her eyes were still tracking his movements.

He lifted her body across his lap and cradled her so she was resting against his chest. He was covered in his own blood, Curran's blood, and now Prim's blood, but he didn't care.

"How bad did he hurt you Prim?" he asked.

"Bad." she whispered, almost inaudible.

Gale unzipped her jacket, and saw the stab wounds in her shirt. She was bleeding profusely. She was right, it was very bad. His eyes filled with tears. He wasn't going to be able to fix this.

She looked up at him, and tried to lift her hand to reach for his. Gale took her hand, and they laced their fingers together.

"You... won..." she whispered to him. He saw a smile start to form at the corners of her mouth, but then a moment later, it faded away. The last remaining blush of color in her cheeks drained away, and her eyes became a glassy stare.

The cannon boomed, and Prim was dead.

"_NOOOOOOO!" _Gale screamed into the night. He hugged her lifeless body against his chest, not wanting to let her go. It all seemed surreal, like it was just a nightmare, but it wasn't. It was real. Gale held onto her desperately, bawling his eyes out. He didn't even care if everyone in Panem saw his raw emotion.

The announcer came over the loudspeaker and announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, your winner of this year's Hunger Games, District 12's Gale Hawthorne!"

But for Gale, being the sole survivor and getting to return to district 12 was not a win.

It was a life sentence.


	24. Chapter 24

Katniss and Peeta sat together out in the capitol square with the crowd, in the front row before the viewing stage with the other mentors, staring at the television screens, watching the last few minutes of Prim's life. It felt as if they were watching it in slow motion.

_Oh, this is going to be bad... _Peeta thought to himself, filled with dread. _This is where Katniss goes off the deep end._

They watched as Curran captured Prim and pinned her down... watched as he taunted her and she spit in his face.

Katniss held onto Peeta's hand with both of hers, and as the scene escalated, she was breathing hard with fear and squeezing his hand so tight, he felt she just might break his fingers.

Peeta saw Curran raise the knife above Prim's chest, and its silver blade shone brightly in the moonlight.

He couldn't let her watch this... he couldn't let her watch her baby sister be murdered. This would be a nightmare that she would_ never _be able to get out of her head, once it was seared into her brain.

Peeta moved like lightning, quickly removing his hand from her grasp, wrapped both his arms around Katniss' neck, put one hand in the back of her hair, and pulled her face to his chest, trying to cover her eyes.

His own eyes filled with tears, and his voice cracked as he begged her, "Don't look, baby, _please _don't watch!"

"I have to! I have to know!" Katniss cried, fighting against Peeta, trying to watch the screen above them. "She's my sister, Peeta, I _have to know!"_

She struggled and managed to free herself from his grip for one second, just long enough to steal a glance upward, and see Curran sink the blade of his knife into Prim's chest, and saw Prim's eyes open wide with the pain.

Peeta pulled her back into his arms forcefully, but he was too late. She had seen it.

At first, it was like it hadn't registered to her. She made no sound for a moment. But then Peeta felt her breathing get rapid, and she started hyperventilating.

She turned her head to look up at the television again, and this time Peeta surrendered and let her watch the rest, but he kept his arms wrapped tightly and protectively around her. If she needed to see it so badly, then his fighting her wasn't going to do any good.

She breathed heavily, and her whole body trembled as she watched Gale slit Curran's throat, and then crawl over to Prim and cradle her body next to his. She watched as Prim and Gale held hands, and then saw her sister die.

As she watched Gale scream in despair, Katniss found her voice too... first it was a whimper.

"Prim?" she whined.

Then it became a screaming wail, full of unspeakable pain.

"_PRIM! NOOOOOO!" _she shrieked. She buried her face into Peeta's chest and sobbed uncontrollably, her whole body shaking with the force of her short, gasping breaths as she cried.

Peeta pulled her body closer and sat her across his lap. He held her as close as he could, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her back. She rested her head on his shoulder and pressed her face against his neck. He could feel the wetness of her tears running down his neck and onto his chest. At first she had been clutching the front of his shirt in both of her hands, balled up into tight fists, but slowly she released her grip and wrapped her arms around his neck, surrendering from anger and disbelief into sorrow.

Katniss suddenly felt like she was adrift in the sea, and Peeta was the only thing stopping her from drowning.

Peeta held her, stroking her hair and rubbing her back as she cried. He felt so helpless. He wished that he could take away her pain, but there was nothing he could say or do that would make this right. He just stayed there, crying along with her, hugging her tightly against him, kissing the side of her face that was buried into his neck. He felt her fingers running through the back of his hair as she clung to him, like she couldn't get close enough.

They heard the announcement being made that Gale had won the game, and the crowd cheered.

Katniss slowly raised her head from Peeta's shoulder, and tried to slow her crying a bit. She looked up at the television screen and watched Gale as he forced himself to let go of Prim's body, gently laying her down on the ground in front of him so that the hovercraft could come and take her away.

Gale just stayed there, down on his knees, looking catatonic, staring off into the distance. He had stopped crying, but his face was still wet.

In the square, Caesar Flickerman appeared on the stage in front of Peeta and Katniss, waved to the crowd, and started walking down the stairs to the seating area, towards them, with a cameraman right behind him, and the crowd cheered again.

_Oh no, _thought Katniss. _They have to do this? Make us speak right now?_

She was in no mood to appear live on television in front of all of Panem right this minute. But, she knew that this was how the capitol operated. They wanted to hold her up as a spectacle for the public. Last year she had given them a love story, and this year, a tragedy. If the Hunger Games had depended on television ratings, she would have single-handedly pushed their success through the roof. She and Peeta both wiped their eyes in preparation for this unexpected live interview.

Caesar approached them, and she saw an apologetic look flash briefly across his face. She knew that he probably didn't want to subject them to this either, but he had no choice.

Katniss stayed perched on Peeta's lap, with her arms around his neck and her head leaning against his, silent tears still falling down her face. He kept his arms wrapped protectively around her waist, staring down Caesar directly in the eyes, instructing him without words:

_You talk to ME, not HER._

Caesar gave Peeta just the slightest nod, that probably no one else even noticed.

Caesar stopped right in front of them, and Katniss saw the close up of the three of them appear on one of the television screens above. Another screen still showed Gale in the arena. The crowd fell silent, in rapt attention. She suddenly realized that this would be simulcast not only throughout Panem, but also into the arena as well, so Gale could hear them. That's why they were still showing him... they wanted to see his response, wanted to twist that knife in his heart just a little bit harder. Katniss was seething with her hatred for President Snow right now.

"Peeta... Katniss.." Caesar started, gently. "My condolences on the loss of your sister. She fought bravely. I think we can all say that she greatly exceeded our expectations! You must be very proud of her. Isn't that right everyone?" he asked the crowd, and they responded with claps and cheers.

Once the crowd quieted down again, Caesar turned his attention to Peeta.

"Peeta, you were Gale's mentor. You must be very pleased with his win, and very proud of yourself as well! Surely your expert mentoring contributed to his success!"

Peeta answered carefully. "I really can't take any credit for Gale's win. He won because of his own abilities. Gale is an expert at survival."

"You are too humble, Mr. Mellark! Surely some of his success was your doing!" Caesar said, causing the crowd to cheer again. Peeta was a fan favorite here in the capitol, and he knew that Caesar was trying to draw on that support for him.

"The only thing I did was to get Gale and Prim a sponsor when they needed it most." Peeta answered. Katniss hugged him tightly around his neck and softly kissed his cheek, grateful for what he had done. The crowd saw this on the television screen and clapped loudly again. Caesar waited for them to quiet down before continuing.

"Yes, the supplies... the alliance. How much do you think that Gale's alliance with Prim contributed to her longevity in the game?"

"Well, enormously of course." Peeta answered. "Prim obviously had her own strengths, as we all saw her demonstrate, but I think it was their teamwork that brought them both so far."

Katniss looked up at Gale on the screen, and saw him lower his head and cover his face with his hands, feeling like he had failed not only Prim, but Peeta and Katniss as well.

"And was this the outcome that you were hoping for?" Caesar asked Peeta carefully.

Peeta paused a moment, restraining his urge to punch Caesar in the face for asking that. He took a deep breath before answering, as calmly as he could. He held Katniss closely, in a show of their solidarity to the crowd.

"We were just praying for _one_ of them to return to us alive, so we accept the outcome with both gratitude _and_ sorrow. As you can imagine, this has been _very_ hard on Katniss, and I would like to be able to take her home to rest now."

"Of course, of course." Caesar said kindly, as he patted Katniss on the shoulder. But then they heard the crowd start cheering again. The three of them looked up to the stage to see what the crowd was cheering about. It was President Snow himself, walking out on the stage and down the stairs towards them.

Peeta felt Katniss' body get rigid, the closer Snow got to them. Caesar stepped aside, and President Snow stepped in and took the microphone from him, addressing Peeta and Katniss from just two feet away.

"Before you go, I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to congratulate the two of you on your unprecedented success with your _cousin's_ win! Never before have we had two members of the same family win the games in back to back years!"

The crowd clapped and whistled loudly again.

Katniss looked up to the screen showing the arena, and saw Gale lower his hands from his face, and look upwards towards the sky, as if praying for the strength to get through this ridiculous speech.

The President continued. "In honor of this landmark achievement, we are going to do things a little differently this year. After all, this is a quarter quell, and what better time to throw a _very special_, once in a lifetime celebration, right?"

The crowd cheered and whooped again, as they watched the President with Peeta and Katniss on the television screen above the stage.

"In three days' time, once Mr. Hawthorne has had a chance to rest and recuperate, we shall hold the review of this year's Hunger Games, the crowning ceremony, and the final interview with the winner all in one evening."

He paused, letting the suspense build before announcing the rest. The crowd was silent with anticipation. Then President Snow continued, staring down Peeta and Katniss as he spoke.

"On the fourth day, the capitol, along with all the citizens of Panem, will honor this unprecedented achievement of the Everdeen family with a special surprise."

Katniss' heart was pounding. She didn't think she could handle any more surprises.

"The capitol will host the wedding of last year's victors, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, right here in the capitol square!"

_WHAT? _They both thought, as they glanced at each other, stunned.

The crowd went absolutely wild, cheering deafeningly for the young couple.

Katniss sucked her breath in sharply, her eyes were wide with shock. She thought she was going to die right there. She and Peeta would be forced to get married _right here? In four days?_

President Snow was smiling broadly, and waving to the crowd.

He continued, "I will even provide _all_ the wedding flowers from my own Presidential rose garden!"

The crowd continued to clap and cheer and whistle at the happy announcement.

Katniss instinctively looked up at Gale on the screen, and saw him run his hands through his hair, his face frozen in an expression of pain and heartbreak. Not only was he suffering from the guilt of not being able to save Prim's life, but now he would be forced to watch the girl he loved marry someone else. The President had succeeded in twisting that knife in his heart, alright.

Katniss was furious, but she had to force a smile onto her face and pretend to be happy for the cameras.

President Snow leaned in towards her and addressed her directly.

"My dear Katniss, I can only _assume_ that you will ask your _cousin_ Gale to perform the honor of being your best man for this joyous occasion?" He had a huge smile on his face, but his eyes sparkled with malice.

"Of course." she answered in a strained voice.

_He had to throw in one more twist of the knife, _she thought. It wasn't enough to punish _her_, he was going to punish Gale as well... just because he could.

"I hope that you are delighted with this surprise gift!" Snow said smoothly.

"Oh yes," Katniss replied coolly. "You really _shouldn't have."_

President Snow patted her on the shoulder, just as Caesar had, but Snow's touch made her skin crawl.

"Dear Katniss, the pleasure is _all mine." _he told her.

The crowd went crazy again, cheering for several minutes before President Snow walked away, and the spectators finally began to dissipate.

Katniss watched the television screens, and saw the hovercraft finally arriving to take Gale away to the hospital. She felt so grateful that he would at last be leaving the arena, and he could have some peace and quiet in the safety of the hospital. She wanted so much to run to him and hug him, to show him how happy she was that he was alive. But she knew that now was not the time. He would be sedated for a while while the nurses and doctors took care of him. And besides, she needed some time alone with Peeta to absorb everything that had happened today.

She slowly, carefully slid herself off of Peeta's lap, not entirely sure that her own legs would support her once she let go of him. Fortunately, he kept his arm wrapped around her waist as she stood.

He hugged her, and then they walked arm in arm back towards their hotel.

She stole a glance backwards towards the stage in the capitol square. Today she had sat here and watched her sister die. And in four days, she would again stand in this place and say her marriage vows, pledging her life to Peeta.

She felt like she was on an emotional roller coaster, with no end to the ride in sight.


	25. Chapter 25

Peeta brought Katniss back to her hotel suite and led her inside. He had hoped that finally being alone together in the quiet of their room would be comforting for her... until he saw the flowers waiting for her. Sitting on the coffee table just inside her suite was a big, elegant cut glass vase full of long stemmed white roses, with a card attached addressed to her. She read the card aloud.

It read, _Lovely roses for the lovely bride-to be. Thought you might want to start practicing carrying your bridal bouquet. President Snow._

Katniss started shaking with anger. She didn't want his stupid flowers, she didn't want this ridiculous public pageant of a wedding, either. She wanted her sister back... she wanted her _life _back.

She hated President Snow _so much._

Suddenly, she felt all her anger and resentment and pain bubble up all at once, and it exploded out of her.

She picked up the vase of flowers and threw it as hard as she could, shattering the glass vase against the wall, and started pacing back and forth, screaming.

"_I hate the fucking President and his God damn fucking roses, I hate the fucking capitol! I can't wait to leave here! I hate that he is making us get married! I don't want this stupid fucking wedding, I don't want ANY of this!"_

Peeta had just stood by silently watching her tantrum, and when she finished ranting, she turned and looked at him.

His face looked so hurt, so pained. He had misunderstood her words.

She stopped in her tracks, instantly forgetting about her anger and worrying about him.

"What's wrong Peeta?" she asked.

"You hate that we are getting married? You don't want any of this? Do you..._ not want._.. to marry me Katniss?" he asked quietly.

She felt horrible. That wasn't what she had meant at all, not even close. She rushed over to him and threw her arms around him.

"Oh, no, Peeta, that's not what I mean at all! Nothing could be further from the truth! I _do _want to marry you, so very much. You are the best thing in my life. I'm so sorry that's what you thought I was saying!" Katniss apologized.

"Come here," she said, as she took his hand and led him to the side of the bed, and they sat down next to each other. She held both of his hands in hers.

"Peeta, I'm angry about this sudden wedding because it's not how I wanted it to be. We only get to have our wedding day once, and ever since you put that ring on my finger, I have dreamed about what our wedding day would be like, and this is NOT how it was supposed to be! I wanted it to be perfect and special, and just about _us._ I don't want it to be in the capitol, and on television for everyone in the world to see. It's our day, yet we won't get to have any say in it. It will all be planned for us. They're taking our special day away from us and_ that's_ what I'm so livid about."

He exhaled with relief. Now that Peeta had a better understanding of why she was against this wedding, he kind of agreed with her. He cupped her face with both hands and kissed her softly.

"Tell me how you wanted our wedding day to be." he said tenderly. "How did you envision it?"

"I wanted our wedding to be small and intimate, maybe in my backyard at sunset on a warm summer evening, candles lit all around us... a beautiful little cake made by you, like the one you made me on the day we made love for the first time."

Peeta smiled warmly, remembering that day. Then he closed his eyes, wanting to see her vision of their wedding day.

"Tell me more," he said, as he held her hands in his, keeping his eyes closed. "I want to see what you see. Tell me what you're wearing as you walk down the aisle to me."

Katniss closed her eyes too, as she started to describe her vision.

"A soft, flowing dress... something like chiffon, that moves and flutters when the breeze blows. A soft, off-white color, like candlelight. The dress is simple, but pretty and feminine. It's strapless, form fitting on the top, but loose and flowing from my hips down. It's just ankle length, and you laugh when you see that I am in my bare feet, walking through the grass to you."

Peeta grinned as he envisioned it.

"My hair is down, loose in soft waves, with some little white flowers tucked here and there. I'm carrying a bouquet of colorful wildflowers that you and I picked in the woods that morning, tied together with a satin ribbon."

Peeta felt his eyes getting watery as he imagined her description of their wedding. In his mind's eye, she looked _so beautiful,_ walking towards him. He felt overcome with emotion, picturing the girl he loved who would soon be his wife.

"You reach out your hands to take mine, and I stand before you, glowing, radiant, so happy and so ready to say my vows to you, surrounded by our family and friends..."

But then Peeta heard her voice crack as she tried to stifle a sob, breaking the spell they were just under.

"And Prim is by my side, holding my bouquet."

He opened his eyes, and saw the waterworks starting.

"Oh, baby..." he whispered, taking her into his arms. "That's the biggest thing that will be all wrong, isn't it? That your sister should be there on your wedding day."

"_Yes."_ she whispered, struggling to speak between her sobs. "It's supposed to be... the happiest day... of our lives... but I'll be missing Prim... you'll be trying to hold me together... Gale will be miserable... it's just not fair to have so much sadness on our wedding day!"

"I know." Peeta said, holding her close. "It's _not_ fair that you won't have your sister, and it's _not_ fair that you don't get to have the wedding day that you imagined. I like your vision _much_ better than whatever over the top spectacle the capitol will have planned for us. But you know what?" he asked, as he pulled back just enough to hold her face in both of his hands and look into her eyes, which were still spilling over with tears.

"What?" she asked.

"At the end of the day, it is still about you and me. When we are standing up there together, saying our vows to each other, we won't care what we are wearing or how many people are watching. We have survived so much together, and we will get through this too. The only thing that matters is that we will be husband and wife, and we will be so happy and in love. I will take care of you always. No matter what happens, they can't take that away from us."

She hugged him tight, grateful for his ability to calm and comfort her. He always knew just the right thing to say.

"Well," Katniss said, sniffling as she wiped her eyes and stopped her crying, "I may not have planned on us getting married in just _four days_, but you're right. Love conquers all. I love you today, I will love you tomorrow, and I will love you even more in four days when we promise our lives to each other. And I know that Prim will be there with me, even if it's only in my heart."

"Of course she will." Peeta agreed. "She will always be with you."

They were quiet for a few moments, just holding each other. Then Katniss pulled away a little and spoke.

"Peeta, are you angry with Gale?" she asked quietly.

"Angry? For what... _living_?"

"Well, yeah, kind of. Are you mad that he didn't keep his promise to you about saving Prim?"

"No." Peeta told her. "I was never _wishing_ for him to die. I just didn't see any other way for Prim to live. And I know that he was trying to keep her alive, right up until the very end. It just didn't work out the way he planned."

They sat in silence again for a moment.

"Why, Katniss? Are _you_ angry with Gale for not saving Prim?" he asked.

"No. I know that he did everything he could for her, and I know that he would have traded places with her if he could have, which is more than anyone else in his position would have done. I selfishly wanted them both to come home, even though I knew that it was not possible. I forgive Gale for not being able to save Prim. It wasn't his fault. I just worry that Gale will never be able to forgive _himself_ for her death."

"Hmm. Well, when you go see him in the hospital, tell him that. It will make him feel better to know that you don't blame him." Peeta said.

"Yeah, I will." she replied, sighing as she leaned against Peeta. She was so tired and drained, yet didn't see how she would ever be able to relax enough to sleep. She was _sure _that she would be having nightmares tonight.

"Look at you, you're exhausted, but you are so tense at the same time. I can feel it in your body." Peeta said. "Come with me." He took her hand and helped her stand up, and led her towards the bathroom.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

"We are going to have a bath so you can relax before bed." he answered.

Peeta went over to the large soaking tub in the bathroom and filled the tub with hot water and vanilla bubble bath.

He helped her undress, then undressed himself and led her to the tub.

"Come on, get in." he said softly. "Sit in front of me."

He eased himself down into the hot water, then held her hand as she stepped in and sat down, reclined against him.

"Try to relax." he whispered into her ear, and then kissed her neck. Then he began massaging her neck and shoulders. Her muscles felt so tense and tight, all knotted up from two weeks of worry and anxiety and heartache.

Katniss had to admit that the massage felt very good. She hadn't fully realized how stressed her body was until Peeta started kneading her muscles with his strong hands. She leaned forward so he could rub further down her back.

He wanted to massage her whole body, but not in a sexual way. Right now, he wasn't trying to arouse her, he was trying to relax her. He gave her a good, long backrub, then worked down both of her arms, all the way to her fingers.

When he finished that, she was already feeling much calmer and sleepier. She relaxed her body back against his, then turned herself over to face him, as they both sunk a little deeper into the warm sudsy water. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you very much for that." she said softly. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"You're welcome." he whispered, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

As they lay cuddled together in the bath, with her head resting on his chest, Katniss realized that this was the first time that they'd done _anything_ naked together in two weeks, since the first night of the games. She just hadn't been able to think of anything like that, she was so worried about Prim and Gale.

"Peeta?"

"Mmmm?"

"I'm sorry I haven't been in the mood for sex these last couple weeks." she said.

He sat up a bit, so he could look at her.

"You don't have to apologize for that. I would never have expected you to be. This has not been a fun time for us."

"I know, but I still feel bad." she told him. "You've been so good to me. And I'm sure you have _needs_."

He couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

"Don't worry about my _needs." _he said, smiling at her. "I'm not going to die from going a couple weeks without sex. All I need right now is this, you and me, snuggled together, talking. This is perfect."

"Do you need me to pleasure you now?" she asked, reaching her hand down between his legs. She wasn't at all in the mood, but she would have done it for him if he needed it. It was the least she could do for him, after everything he had done for her.

"No, not tonight." he answered gently, taking her hand and bringing it back up to his chest. "I want you to be relaxed so you will sleep. You've had a very difficult day. We have the whole rest of our lives to pleasure each other. There is no hurry. Besides, I was thinking... at this point, I think it might be nice to wait the four more days until our wedding night. Just think how special it will be then. I think I would like to wait and make love to my _wife_."

She sighed, and she looked at him adoringly. If Peeta didn't have her heart before, he definitely had it now. She loved that he had such a sentimental side. And she thought that he was right... it would be so much more meaningful in just a few short days.

"I think that is a beautiful idea." she said. "We'll wait."

She leaned in and kissed him... this wonderful, sweet, sentimental man who would soon be her husband.

"You ready for bed now, love?" he asked.

"Mmmm, bed sounds good." she whispered.

They got out of the bath, dried off, and got into their pajamas. Peeta turned down the bed, and they slid in under the crisp sheets and warm blankets. He spooned himself around her and held her close. He could tell that as tired as she was, she was afraid to go to sleep. She was already fearing the nightmares that she knew would be coming for her.

"Try to sleep, baby." Peeta soothed her. "I'll be right here, holding you."

She closed her eyes, snuggled her head into the pillow and her body into Peeta's warmth, and fortunately it didn't take her long to succumb to her exhaustion, into a deep sleep...for a while anyway.

It wasn't long before Peeta woke to her thrashing around, crying in her sleep. He turned on the bedside light and looked at the clock.

_Well, she managed to sleep three hours, _he thought to himself. It was better than he'd expected.

He gently shook her arm to wake her up.

"Katniss, wake up, it's only a dream." he said into her ear.

She woke with a start, looking at him with her eyes filled with fear and spilling over with tears.

"What was it?" he asked her gently, wiping the tears from her face with his hand.

"Prim." she whispered. "Curran was hurting her."

Peeta smoothed her hair. "It's okay. He can't hurt her anymore. Gale made sure Curran wouldn't hurt _anyone _ever again."

She closed her eyes and let the tears come again.

"I miss Prim so much!" she wailed.

"I know... I know you do." Peeta soothed her, pulling her closer into his embrace. He just held her quietly and let her cry out all her sadness, until she finally tired herself out and fell back to sleep.

He didn't even bother to turn off the bedside light this time. He didn't want to move and wake her up, and besides, sometimes she slept better with the light on anyway, so he just closed his eyes and went back to sleep with her.

A couple of hours later, he woke up once more to her having another nightmare. He woke her up again.

"Was it Prim again?" he asked.

"No." she said, her voice trembling. "It was _you. _It was last year, with the nightlock berries... I gave them to you, but this time when we counted to three, you swallowed some before they told us to stop, and I had to watch you dying and I couldn't save you and it was all my fault because it was my idea!"

She started bawling again.

"Shhh," he quieted her. "It was only a dream. I'm right here, and I'm fine and I'm not going anywhere."

She sighed, relieved that he was alive and well, but she was exhausted and so sick of crying. Her eyes hurt and her head hurt.

They lay there snuggled together for a while, but now she was wide awake.

"Do you think you are going to be able to go back to sleep?" Peeta asked her.

"No, I don't think so." she answered.

"Well, we might as well just get up then." he said. "We've got a busy day ahead. You know that Cinna will be coming for you, to start planning and fitting you for a wedding dress, and I'm sure that you'll want to go see Gale in the hospital at some point too."

"Yup, I'll go put on some tea." she said, dragging her tired body out of the warm bed. She opened the drapes on the picture window and looked out over the capitol below, in the first rays of morning light.

Another day of the emotional roller coaster was dawning.


	26. Chapter 26

"Peeta, before we go meet with Cinna and Portia, can we go see Gale? I need to know that he's okay." Katniss said.

"Yeah, sure, if you want to. Besides, we will most likely end up spending all day with our prep teams working on the wedding stuff, so going to the hospital first is probably a good idea. It will be quicker, and it will put your mind at ease."

"Thank you." she told him, "I hope you're right."

Katniss and Peeta walked over to the hospital, which was located in the same building as the training center. They approached the reception desk and spoke to a nurse who was sitting there.

"Hello," Katniss said brightly. "We're here to see Gale Hawthorne please."

"Your names?" the nurse asked.

"We're his mentors, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark."

"One moment please..." the nurse said, as she stood up and went to speak with another nurse. She had taken a chart with her, and she was pointing to the pages as she spoke to her colleague, occasionally glancing back at Katniss and Peeta. Both nurses returned to the desk together. The second nurse was apparently the shift supervisor.

Katniss did not have a good feeling about this.

"I'm sorry," the supervisor said gently, "but I can't let you in."

"Why not?" Katniss asked..

"Because Mr. Hawthorne has specifically requested no visitors." she answered.

"Well, surely he didn't mean _us!" _Katniss argued. "I'm his best friend, for God's sake!"

"Actually, he _did _mean you. He wrote it right here himself." the supervisor said, holding up the front page of Gale's chart for Katniss to see.

And sure enough, right there on the page in Gale's own handwriting, it said, "_NO _visitors, including Katniss Everdeen and/or Peeta Mellark."

"_What?!"_ Katniss exclaimed. "What the hell is this all about?" she demanded. "Is he alright?"

"I'm sorry, but I am not at liberty to discuss Mr. Hawthorne's medical record with you, and he clearly does not wish to see you."

Kaniss was furious.

"Gale! _GALE!_" she yelled, hoping that maybe he was in one of the rooms nearby and that he might hear her.

"_Okay!_" Peeta interrupted, as he grabbed her arm and started leading her away from the nurses' desk. "We're sorry for the intrusion." he told the nurses. "We'll be going now."

Katniss tried to pull her arm out of his grasp, but he held on firmly, practically dragging her down the hall.

"Peeta, let go of me!" she said. "I need to go find Gale!"

"No, you don't. Not right now. If you go storming back there, they will have security escort you out and you won't be allowed back in. Is that what you want?"

"No! But-"

"But _nothing, _Katniss!" Peeta argued. "Just give Gale some time to recover! He's just been through a traumatic experience! You know how it feels! Maybe he just isn't ready to see you yet! Be patient! He's only been in the hospital for what, 12 hours?"

She stopped struggling against him, and stood still. She knew he was right.

"I'm just worried about him Peeta." she said in a much calmer tone of voice.

Peeta hugged her sympathetically. "I know you are. But let him have a chance to grieve for Prim in private, okay? It's probably going to be very hard for him to face you. He didn't plan for this."

Katniss hugged him back.

"Since when have you ever been inclined to defend Gale?" she asked, half teasingly.

He looked her in the eyes.

"Since I know how hard it would be for _me_, if I was the one who had to face you and tell you that I had let you down."

She swallowed hard, realizing that Gale probably _did_ feel that he had disappointed her.

Peeta spoke to her again, this time very softly. "We can always check back later, okay? And if he's still not ready, we'll try again tomorrow. But you _can't _throw a fit if they tell you that you can't see him."

"Okay." she reluctantly agreed. "I promise I'll behave."

"Okay then." Peeta said, and then softly kissed her forehead. "Well, I guess we had better head over to see Cinna and Portia and get started on the wedding stuff. Come on."

He took her by the hand, and they got into the elevator to leave the hospital.

When they got to the studio, it was obvious that their prep teams had already been hard at work, trying to get organized for the enormous task ahead of them, to design and create their wedding clothes in just a few days' time. The tables in Cinna's studio were piled high with bolts of all kinds of fabrics- satin, lace, taffeta, tulle- and there were rolls of ribbons and boxes of fancy buttons, and sketch pads with drawings of dresses.

Portia whisked Peeta off to her studio around the corner from Cinna's, so neither the bride nor the groom would see what the other would be wearing. The prep teams were determined to keep their outfits a closely guarded secret until the wedding ceremony.

"So, Cinna..." Katniss said, "What's the plan? What's our timeline look like?"

"Well, as you know, we have a lot of work to do before the wedding. Which, by the way, I would like to say congratulations to you both on!"

Katniss frowned and mumbled something along the lines of "stupid wedding".

"You're not excited about your upcoming marriage to Peeta?" Cinna asked, confused.

"My _marriage _to Peeta? Yes, I am happy and excited to be married to Peeta. This _wedding _though? Thisridiculous, overblown, pageant of a _wedding, _which we don't even get to have any say in? No, I am decidedly _not _excited about that. It's not _at all _what I would have wanted for my wedding day."

"Well, I will do what I can to give you as much say as possible in what you wear, at least. You can tell me what you have in mind, and I'll sketch some ideas out and we'll see what we can agree on, okay?"

"Okay, thank you. I would really appreciate that." she said gratefully. "I know you'll create something beautiful, Cinna. You always do."

"Don't you forget it, girl!" Cinna teased her. "Now, we are on a tight schedule, so we must work quickly. Today we will do all your measurements, and we will sketch out the design for your dress. As soon as we finalize a design, my team will start working immediately on sewing the dress, and they'll work around the clock until it's finished. Tomorrow you'll come back and we'll figure out your shoes, accessories, hair and makeup, so bring your victor's crown because we will have to try out different hairstyles with it."

"Whoa, wait a minute." Katniss said. "I have to wear that stupid crown?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Cinna told her. "President Snow insisted that you and Peeta both wear your crowns for the ceremony, since this wedding is kind of a publicity stunt to celebrate the Hunger Games and all..."

Katniss scowled at the thought of having to wear the crown.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" she said, exasperated. "This wedding gets less and less appealing by the minute!"

"Sorry," Cinna apologized. "Nothing I can do about that one. But the rest of the outfit is up to us, and I'll make sure you're gorgeous."

"Fine." she pouted.

"Wow, what an _enthusiastic_ bride you are..._" _Cinna teased her sarcastically. It was hard to stay pouty around him.

"Anyway, as I was saying," he continued, "by tomorrow afternoon we will hopefully have the dress mostly finished and we can do a first fitting and make any necessary changes or adjustments, and then on the third day you'll have to come for your final fitting, and that will be the full dress rehearsal, where we put everything together and make sure it works and everything fits just right."

"Well, guess we better get started then, hmm?" she asked.

"That's the spirit!" Cinna said brightly. "So, tell me what you had in mind for your dress..."

Katniss explained her vision of her wedding dress, the way she had explained it to Peeta, and Cinna wrote down notes as she talked.

He started sketching out some ideas to show her.

"Do you want the bottom of your dress to start at your natural waist or would you prefer a dropped waist?"

"I have no idea what that means." she answered.

Cinna grinned at her. "Sorry, it means, do you want the skirt part of your dress to start _here-" _pointing to the thinnest part of her waist just below her ribcage, where her body curved in like an hourglass- "or down _here." _said, pointing at the top of her hip bones.

"Dropped waist." she answered.

"Okay. Now we're getting somewhere!" he said."I would like to make the bodice- the top part- nice and fitted, laced up like a corset all down the back."

"Okay."

"And I know you said you wanted the skirt part to be soft and flowy, so I'll give you that."

"Thank you!" she said. "But not too big. I don't want a huge puffy skirt that looks like a marshmallow. I want it to move and flutter, and be easy to walk and move around in."

"How long of a train do you want on the back?"

"Well, I'd really rather not have any." she said.

"Oh no, you have to have some length at the back." he said. "This is a formal wedding, you need to look the part. I won't make it too long, okay? Just long enough to fan out behind you a little as you walk. It will be lovely."

"Fine." Katniss answered.

"Come over here and pick out a fabric for your dress." he said, leading her over to the table piled with yards and yards of fabrics.

He showed her several different samples of sheer fabrics... She looked them all over. She wasn't sure what to pick.

"Oh, I know _just _what you need!" Cinna exclaimed. He dug through the pile and found one that was perfect. It was very light and sheer, just a shade off of white, with just the faintest hint of shimmer to it, like the glow of a white pearl. Katniss touched it and it felt as soft as a butterfly wing.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Organza." he told her. "This will be perfect for your dress. And wait until you see how it looks in the sunlight! You will look positively radiant, like you're glowing from within!"

So far, she was pretty happy with the design of her dress. It wasn't too far off of her original idea, and she had total faith in Cinna, that he would make her look stunning.

They spent the rest of the afternoon going over the rest of the fine details, and Cinna took a million different measurements of her body.

Peeta was done with his session long before Katniss, so he went into the shopping area of the capitol. He wanted to get her a gift. This was one thing that he thought was pretty great about the capitol. Anything you wanted, as long as you had money, you could find it here.

He asked around for the best florist in the capitol.

When he walked into the florist shop, the owner recognized him immediately and was star struck.

"Oh my gosh, are you Peeta?" she gushed.

"Yes," he laughed. "I would like to order some flowers for my fiancee please."

"Oh my, I can't believe I have one of Panem's most famous victors in my shop!" she exclaimed.

Peeta blushed and smiled. "I'm just a regular guy, buying flowers for his girl." he said modestly.

"Well, what exactly did you have in mind?" the shopkeeper asked.

"A bouquet of all different flowers, not too structured or too perfect... mostly wildflowers...things you would find if you took a nature walk through meadows and woods."

"Is this for the big wedding?" she asked excitedly.

"No, the president is providing roses for the wedding. This is just to make her happy."

"Oh, that's sweet!" she said. "Let's see what kind of flowers you think she'd like."

Peeta looked through a whole catalog with her, picking out flowers.

"Let's see.." he said, poring over the pictures in the catalog. "White daisies, orange tiger lilies, purple asters, lily of the valley, black-eyed susans, bluebonnets..."

"Do you want any cuttings of flowers that grow on bushes? You know, little sprigs sticking out here and there for some height and dimension? Maybe some yellow forsythia and purple lilacs?"

"Yes, that sounds great." he said.

"Any roses?"

"No." he replied. "No roses. She doesn't really care for them. But how about yellow primroses, can you get those?"

"Absolutely!" she said.

"Lots of those." he said.

"Okay. Any greenery? Like ferns, maybe?"

"Yes, ferns would be great."

"And how do you want the stems tied together? We have all types and colors of ribbons- Satin? Lace? Taffeta?"

"Satin ribbon. Her favorite color is green... dark green, like the forest."

"Okay, well, I guess that about does it then." the shopkeeper told him, as she finished writing up her notes. "When would you like to pick up your flowers?"

"How about in two days... Friday morning?" he asked.

"Sure, I'll have the bouquet ready first thing in the morning Friday." she assured him.

"Great! Thank you very much for all your help! Katniss is going to love it." Peeta said. "I'll see you then!"

Peeta returned to Cinna's studio to wait for Katniss. She seemed to be in a good mood when she finished, so he figured it must have gone well.

"You're happy with how your dress is coming along?" he asked.

"Yes, I think it's going to be very pretty." Katniss said, beaming. "I can't wait for you to see it! At least there will be _one_ detail of this wedding that I'll be excited about. Well, besides seeing you up there at the front of the aisle waiting for me, of course!" she said, leaning over and kissing Peeta's cheek.

"Would you like to stop by the hospital and try to see Gale again before we go home?" he asked her.

"Yes, I would." she answered.

"Okay, but let me do the talking, alright? No losing your temper!"

"Okay, okay." she agreed.

They returned to the nursing unit at the hospital where Gale was, and approached the nurses' desk, holding hands. Katniss was trying hard to be hopeful.

"Hello," Peeta said to the nurse. "We were here this morning, and we were wondering if Gale Hawthorne is accepting visitors yet?"

The nurse looked at the chart on the desk.

"I'm sorry, still no visitors." she replied.

Peeta looked at Katniss, and she looked very disappointed.

"Well, would you please give him the message that Peeta and Katniss stopped by? And tell him that his best friend is very worried about him and wants to talk to him?" Peeta winked at Katniss.

"Yes, I will be sure to give him the message." the nurse said.

"Thank you." Peeta said, as they turned to leave again.

"I'm sorry, honey." he told her, squeezing her hand.

"Oh well..." she sighed. "Like you said, we'll just have to try again tomorrow."

Peeta and Katniss left the hospital again and headed for the hotel.

Meanwhile, in the hospital, the nurse went to Gale's room to see him and pass along the message they'd left for him.

"Gale, your friends were here to see you again. Peeta said to tell you that your best friend wants to speak with you. Are you sure you still don't want any visitors? They seem to really care about you."

"No." Gale said weakly. "I can't face either one of them right now."

Gale was listless. He was devastated about Prim, and felt that Katniss would probably never forgive him for letting Prim out of his sight, which gave Curran the opportunity to kill her.

"What do you want me to bring you for dinner?" the nurse asked him, as she stood next to his bed, checking on the bag of IV fluid that was running into the vein in his arm.

"I don't want anything. I'm not hungry." he said quietly.

"Gale, you need to eat something." the nurse scolded him. "Isn't it bad enough that you need _this_-" she said, pointing to the bag of IV fluid hanging on the metal pole, "because you are so dehydrated? You aren't eating or drinking _anything!_ If you keep this up, the doctors will be forced to feed you through a tube!"

"I don't care. I just don't feel up to eating right now."

"How's your sleeping been?" she asked.

"Terrible. I can't sleep at all. My brain won't relax enough to sleep, and the few times I have drifted off, I wake up screaming with horrible nightmares. I'm exhausted." Gale explained.

"Do you want me to give you some sleeping medicine?"

"No, the nurse last night tried that. It only made it worse. I went to sleep, but then I was stuck in my nightmares and couldn't wake up. It was like being held underwater. I don't want any sedatives."

The nurse frowned at him.

"Do you need pain medicine?" she asked.

"No, my _physical_ pain is very minimal. I don't need anything."

"Let me see your hands, I need to change your dressings." the nurse instructed.

Obediently, Gale held out his hands to her and allowed her to remove the bandages. The cuts on his hands had already improved quite a bit just since yesterday, thanks to the fancy medicated ointment they'd been putting on them. She cleaned all the cuts, put fresh ointment on and wrapped his hands with gauze again.

"Well, let me know if you need anything." the nurse said. "And please call for one of us if you decide you feel up to eating something! Whatever you feel like eating, we'll get it for you, day or night."

"Thank you." he said quietly, just staring out the window at the sunset. It looked beautiful, with the sky all painted in shades of red and orange and pink, but he couldn't even seem to find enjoyment in that. He found it hard to believe that this was the same sun that he and Katniss had watched set together so many times, back in the woods of district 12.

He feared that nothing would ever be the same between him and Katniss. In his nightmares, she always blamed him for Prim's death, and swore that she would never forgive him. That was why he couldn't bring himself to see her now. He didn't have the strength to face the possibility that maybe that was how she really felt.

Gale turned away from the window so he would stop thinking about her. But what else was there for him to think about? He couldn't eat, and he couldn't sleep. It was going to be a very long night.

As the hours slowly ticked by, Gale suffered through the same repeating pattern again and again.

He would stare out the window at the vast darkness of the night sky and watch the moon as it slowly crept across the horizon. He would stare at it until his body and mind finally succumbed to fatigue and he would drift off to sleep, only to wake a very short time later, screaming and crying from the horrific nightmares. The nurse would come running, asking if he was alright.

He wanted to shout, _NO! I am NOT fucking alright! Do I look alright to you?!_

But he didn't. He knew that if he yelled at the nurses, they would have him sedated, and he desperately did not want to be sedated again. That just made the suffering so much worse because he couldn't escape it.

He suddenly missed Katniss so much. He wondered if she was suffering too, the same way he was. At least she had Peeta to soothe her though. Gale felt so alone.

If only Gale had known that just a short walk across the square, Katniss was having the same kind of night as he was, being robbed of her much needed sleep by the nightmares about Prim, making her wake up crying over and over.

If only he had let her in today, he would have known... known that she understood what he was going through... known that she wasn't angry with him... known that she was so worried about him... known that she missed her friend so much it hurt.

But he didn't, so he just lay there enduring the agony of his mental anguish and watched the sun rise, just as he'd watched it set last night.


	27. Chapter 27

Just like Gale, Katniss was awake with the sunrise too. She yawned and turned herself over, so she was facing Peeta. She snuggled in against his body and draped her leg up over his hip.

"Good morning, baby." he murmured to her softly. "Did you get any sleep?"

"A little." she said.

"Mmmm, I hope these nightmares ease up soon. I hate seeing you so upset."

He pulled her a little closer, and rubbed his hand down her back and rested it on her hip.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, so close to his own face.

"You look tired." he told her.

"I _am _tired. I wish we could just stay in bed all day." she said longingly.

"That _does_ sound tempting." Peeta admitted. "I wish we could too. But we have another busy day ahead with the prep teams, so we should probably get up and get going."

Katniss groaned and pulled the covers up over her head.

"No, just five more minutes!" she pleaded.

He smiled and then pulled the covers up over himself too, so that they were both hiding together.

"Okay, five more minutes of snuggle time." Peeta agreed, leaning into her and raining kisses all over her neck.

Five minutes stretched into ten, and then fifteen, as they cuddled together, just holding each other.

"Mmmm, I've missed this." Peeta finally said. "I can't wait to go home and get back to our normal lives."

"Is there any such thing as normal life anymore?" Katniss wondered. "Going home without Prim, it just doesn't feel right. How am I going to live without her?"

She felt the tears coming to her eyes again, and then spilling.

"You will, one day at a time." Peeta soothed her. "Right now it seems impossible because the hole in your heart is fresh, and your pain is deep. But one day, you will go to sleep realizing that you didn't cry for Prim that day. And then it will be a week since you cried, and then a month. You will heal, it just takes time."

Katniss sighed loudly. She couldn't wait to have a day without tears. Peeta gave her a few more minutes to cry for her sister, then dried her face with his hands.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand. "We really need to get up now, before Cinna comes looking for you."

She grudgingly dragged herself out of the warm bed and threw some clothes on. She didn't need to do much else to get ready because she knew that her prep team would be working on her hair and makeup all day anyway, so she just washed her face and ran a brush through her hair.

She dug through her suitcase and found her victor's crown. She was irritated enough that, as last year's victors, she and Peeta would have to wear them at Gale's crowning ceremony, but she _really_ hated that they were being forced to wear them again at their wedding. She despised that stupid crown and everything it stood for.

On their way over to see Cinna and Portia, they stopped by the hospital once again and inquired about Gale, but still he wouldn't see them.

Katniss was just about at the end of her patience with waiting for Gale.

"That's it." she said to Peeta. "I'm done with this. Gale has made it clear that he doesn't want to see me, and maybe he never will. I'm not going to keep coming over here and begging for him to see me, when he obviously doesn't want to. I guess I'll just see him at the crowning... that is, if he even decides to speak to me then."

"Are you sure?" Peeta asked her. "Maybe he still just isn't ready."

"Well, when he's ready, he knows where to find me." she said bitterly. It was breaking her heart that Gale still wouldn't see her.

When they arrived at Cinna's studio, he immediately whisked her inside.

"Where have you been?" Cinna asked. "I thought you'd be here an hour ago!"

"Sorry, it's been a rough morning." she told him.

Cinna looked at her, and saw that her eyes were tired and bloodshot, and were also red rimmed and puffy from crying.

"Look at you!" he exclaimed. "You look awful! How am I supposed to make you look like a happy, blushing bride when you show up looking like this?"

"I'm sorry, Cinna." she said.

"Don't worry, I can fix it." he assured her. "Now, come on, I want you to have a look at your dress!"

He took her by the hand and led her around the corner to where he had a dressing area set up, with a three way mirror, and a small pedestal for her to step up onto in front of it. On a hook on the wall hung a garment bag with her dress in it.

"Are you ready?" he asked her excitedly.

"Yes!" she answered.

"Close your eyes." he instructed, and she did.

Cinna unzipped the garment bag and pulled it away.

"Okay, you can look now!" he announced.

She opened her eyes and looked at her wedding dress that Cinna had created.

It was _breathtaking._

"Oh my gosh, Cinna, it's _beautiful!" _she exclaimed.

The dress was strapless, with a sweetheart neckline. It had soft ruching all the way down the front, and then at the hips it flared out into a soft, sweeping skirt that fluttered with just the slightest breeze or movement. He turned it around so she could see the back, and he showed her the corset lacing that went all the way down to her hips. The laces tied in a bow just where the curve of her bottom would start. Below that, the skirt fanned out into a fluttery short train that would be just long enough to gracefully sweep the floor behind her when she walked. The creamy organza fabric seemed to catch the light and looked ethereal.

Her eyes started tearing again, but this time it was with happy tears. Her dress was even better than she'd imagined in her dreams.

"No more crying!" Cinna said, laughing. "Your eyes are puffy enough already!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" she laughed. "It's just _so_ pretty...I _love_ it!"

"Are you ready to try it on?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

She undressed, and Cinna and one of his assistants got the dress all unlaced and ready to put on.

"Hold your hands up high over your head." he told her, and then they slid the dress down over her head and onto her body. He had Katniss hold up the front while he tightened up the corset laces one at a time, all the way down her back. Finally, he tied the bow at the bottom, and told her she could step up onto the pedestal and look in the three way mirror.

She gazed at herself in the mirror. It was like surreal, like she was looking at someone else. She couldn't believe she was really standing here in her wedding dress.

She immediately noticed that between the boning in the bodice of the dress, and the tightly laced corset in the back, her bosom was pushed up and out, making her look much more voluptuous than she usually did. She looked down at her newly enhanced cleavage, and then looked up at Cinna with a smirk.

"Really?" she asked.

"_Really."_ he answered, giving her a knowing smile. "Trust me, Peeta will _love it_!"

"I'm _sure_." she said dryly, unable to hide her grin.

She turned around to look at the back. She was really impressed with Cinna's work. Even her ass looked fabulous in the dress.

"Step down and walk around in it." Cinna instructed. "Tell me if everything feels comfortable, or if there is anything that needs adjusting."

Katniss stepped down and walked back and forth across the room, as Cinna watched her, stroking his chin as he studied the dress and then made little notes to himself on a pad of paper with details he wanted to work on.

He watched her twirl around in front of the mirror, making her fluttery skirt flare out, as she imagined herself dancing in Peeta's arms at the reception. Cinna couldn't help but smile at her... it was so good to see her this happy.

"Okay, Princess," he finally said, grinning. "Time to take the dress off, we have a lot more work to do today."

"Oh, I don't want to!" she said, laughing at him.

"I guess that means you like it?" he asked.

"I can't even tell you how much I love it! It's better than I ever could have imagined. Thank you!" she said, breathlessly.

"You're welcome." he said gently. "Now come on, we really do have work to do!"

He got her all unlaced and helped her out of the dress, and she put her clothes back on. Now it was time to figure out her hair.

She sat in the chair, and told Cinna, Flavius and Venia that she had always envisioned herself wearing her hair down and loose.

"I think we're going to have to do something a little more formal than that..." Flavius told her, as he ran his fingers through her hair, contemplating different ideas. "Plus, we're going to need a way to anchor your crown and veil into your hair. Maybe we could do a _half_ updo... you know... have the front pulled back and curled, but leave the back down..."

He set to work brushing and curling her hair, sweeping it back off her face and up into a pile of curls on top of her head. He left the back of her hair down, and curled it into big, soft waves that cascaded down over her shoulders. Then he took the crown and placed it around the curls on top of her head, encircling her hair like a golden halo. Cinna brought over her veil, which was very long, and would be held in her hair by a single comb. Flavius placed the comb at the back of her hair, just behind the crown, so it almost looked like it was attached to the crown itself.

"There!" he said. "Perfect!"

She looked at it in the mirror, and she had to admit, it did look very pretty, even if she did hate the crown.

Once they had decided that this was the look they wanted, Flavius took out the veil and removed the crown and brushed her hair out, so Peeta wouldn't see what her hair would look like on the big day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Venia. First Katniss had to sit through being scrubbed and waxed all over, until her body was clean and shiny. Then they spent what felt like forever trying out makeup in all different colors, trying to find just the right look for her, in shades that would complement her skin and make her look like a glowing, blushing bride.

Just when she thought she was finished and would get to go home to Peeta, she was cornered by Cinna again for one last detail.

"We still have to pick out your shoes." he told her.

Katniss groaned.

"Oh, Cinna, I'm so tired!" she whined.

"Stop being a baby." he teased her affectionately. "This won't take long. There is a fabulous shoe store just down the street, so let's just go and get it overwith."

Cinna walked with her to the shoe store, and picked out several pairs for her to try on.

"Do I really have to wear heels?" she asked.

"Yes, you do. But they don't have to be too high, just something pretty and feminine, okay?"

"Fine." she said.

"How about these? I think these would be nice." Cinna said as he handed her the shoes. They were a summery sandal style with straps of creamy satin, a modest heel, and a little cluster of sparkly crystals at the front.

She tried them on, and thought that they did look pretty good, and they were comfortable for a high heel.

"Okay, I can handle these." she agreed.

They bought the shoes and walked back to Cinna's studio, where Peeta was waiting for her to walk her back to the hotel.

"There's my girl!" he said, reaching out to hug her. "Ready to go home?"

"Am I ever! This wedding prep is a lot of work!" she exclaimed.

Before they left, she hugged Cinna goodbye, and thanked him for everything.

"See you tomorrow for your final fitting!" Cinna reminded her.

"Yup, see you tomorrow!"

She took Peeta's hand, grateful to be finally returning to the hotel to relax.

"So, Peeta, how is your planning with Portia coming? Are you happy with your outfit?"

"Yeah, I have to say, I think it looks very good. I hope you'll like it!" he said excitedly.

"I'm sure I will, love. Whatever you're wearing, I'm sure you'll look very handsome! I can't wait to see it!"

"And I can't wait to see you, either!" he said, as he stopped walking for a moment and pulled her to him for a quick kiss.

As they continued their walk back to the hotel, Peeta asked, "Are you sure you don't want to stop by the hospital one more time and check in on Gale?"

She contemplated it for a minute, before finally answering, "No, I don't think so. I doubt anything has changed, and besides, I really just want to get home and take a hot shower, wash off all this makeup, get in my pajamas, and crawl into bed with you for an early night. I'm exhausted."

"That sounds good to me. Let's go." he told her, as they walked the rest of the way across the square to the hotel.

When they reached their suites, Katniss said, "Why don't we sleep in your room tonight? I haven't been sleeping very well in mine, maybe a change in scenery will help me sleep better."

"Okay, if you want to."

"I'm just going to shower and change and then I'll be over, okay?" she asked. "Then we can order some room service for dinner and just take it easy."

"Don't keep me waiting too long, or I'll have to come over and get you!" Peeta teased, then he kissed her before she headed into her own suite, winked at him, and shut the door.


	28. Chapter 28

Katniss hadn't been out of the shower long when she heard the knock at her hotel room door.

_Boy, Peeta wasn't kidding when he said he was going to come get me! _She thought to herself, smiling.

She had just put on her pajama pants and a comfortable cami top for the evening. She was emotionally spent from grieving for Prim the last two days, tired from the hectic pace of dress designing and fittings, and was upset that Gale still wouldn't see her. She looked and felt like hell. She couldn't wait to snuggle into bed with Peeta and just escape into sleep... or _try_ to, anyway.

She hurried out of the bathroom to get the door, drying her hair with a towel as she walked. She expected to see Peeta when she opened the door, but it wasn't.

It was Gale.

She gasped. "Jesus Christ, Gale, you look terrible! Why aren't you in the hospital?"

She threw her arms around him.

"I've been so worried about you!" she scolded him.

Gale looked far worse than she did. He looked like he hadn't eaten, slept or showered in days. He was pale, he looked exhausted and mentally drained. He was wringing his hands, which the nurses in the hospital had gotten just about healed from the cuts he'd received from Raven's spear in the arena. Unfortunately, his emotional wounds were much deeper and more damaging than his physical ones.

"I need to talk to you." he said. "Are you alone? Can I come in please?"

"Yes, come in, come in. Are you okay?" she said, as she pulled him in and shut the door.

"No, I am not okay at all." he told her, as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

"They let you out of the hospital in this condition?"

"No, I just left. Pulled my IV out, got dressed and just walked out. I couldn't stay there anymore." he said. "I decided that I needed to see you now."

"What's wrong?" Katniss asked, getting very concerned. She sat next to him on the bed.

"I get it now." Gale whispered, tears filling in his exhausted eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "You get _what_ now?"

"I finally get why you need Peeta. Why you have _always _needed Peeta."

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"_The nightmares."_ Gale answered, so quietly that she could barely hear him.

"You're having nightmares?" she asked.

"Oh my God, Katniss, I am _haunted _by them! It's torture! I can't even close my eyes without being back in the arena. I keep seeing Prim die over and over. She calls to me but I can't get to her..."

Katniss took him into her arms and held him. She knew how awful it was to be captive to the nightmares.

Gale continued, "I can't even remember the last time I slept. Now I know what you were going through when you got back last year. I'm so sorry I never got it before!"

Now Gale was crying in her arms. She held him and rubbed his back, and just listened as he poured his heart out to her.

"When you used to tell me that you suffered from such horrible nightmares... now I get why you used to sleep with Peeta all the time! It makes sense to me now! Peeta was the only person who knew how much you were suffering because he lived through it with you! Peeta was there for you and _I wasn't!_ I never could have understood the depths of your torment! But I do now, because it's _my _torment now too. I'm _so sorry_ that I didn't get it! I'm s_o sorry_ that I wasn't there for you!"

"Shh, shh." she quieted him. "It's okay, Gale. How _could_ you know what it was like? No one can until they've lived through it. I certainly don't hold that against you."

"You should hate me," Gale said. "I failed you then, and I have failed you now. I was supposed to keep Prim safe so she could come home to you, and I even managed to fuck that up! The most important thing I ever could have done for you, and I failed you in that too! I'm so sorry, Katniss!"

"Is that why you wouldn't see me all this time? You thought I hated you?" she asked.

"Yes!" he answered. "I didn't see how you would _ever_ be able to forgive me for not keeping my promise to keep Prim alive!"

Katniss started crying too, feeling the weight of her own pain as well as Gale's. She held him even closer.

"Oh, Gale, you can't blame yourself for Prim. I watched you every step of the way. I saw you take care of her, protect her. You made her feel safe. You gave her hope. So even though she didn't get to come home, I still owe you a debt of gratitude that I will _never _be able to repay, as long as I live!"

"How can you be so forgiving?" he asked.

"It's not your fault, Gale. You didn't kill her. "

She took his face in her hands, lifted his chin, and made him look her in the eyes.

"Look at me, Gale. _It's not your fault."_

She wiped away the tears from his face, then dried her own as well. His gray eyes looked so tired and lifeless.

"Gale, I can see that you haven't slept. Have you eaten anything lately?"

He shook his head at her.

She sighed. "Go get in my shower Gale. Everything you need is already in there because I just showered. Get cleaned up and then I'm going to take care of you and feed you. You can't show up at the crowning tomorrow in the shape you're in. Not even your prep team would be able to make you look alive."

He started to protest, but she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Gale, I wasn't asking you, I'm telling you. Go get in the damn shower. I'll go to your room and find you some clean pajamas. Now go!"

He obediently stood up and headed into her bathroom. When she heard the shower turn on, she left the room. First she went across the hall to Peeta's room.

"Ah, there you are, I've been waiting!" he said, as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

"Hi, love." she said, as she kissed him back. "Um, I hope you won't be mad, but there's been a slight change in plans for tonight..."

"Why? What's up?" he asked.

"I can't spend the night with you tonight, because I have to let Gale stay with me. He's not well."

"_What? _Why does Gale need to stay with you? And why isn't he in the hospital?"

"Because he just showed up at my door a few minutes ago... he is in my room right now, having a meltdown. He left the hospital, he is exhausted from having nightmares, he is consumed with guilt over Prim, and he hasn't eaten or slept in days. He looks awful. He thought I hated him, that's why he wouldn't see me. He has a big day tomorrow, and I can't let him show up to the crowning ceremony in the state he's in. I'm going to make sure he eats something, and I'm going to let him sleep in my room so he won't be alone. He _needs_ to get some sleep tonight, and he won't be able to if he's alone!"

Peeta frowned. He clearly did not think that this was a great idea.

"No." he said. "I don't trust Gale to be alone with you all night, especially if he's that upset right now."

"Come on, Peeta. I _have_ to do this. It's my fault that he got reaped and now his head is a mess. You know what it's like for me, when I can't sleep because of the nightmares. I can't just ignore him!"

"He's a grown man, Katniss, he'll be fine." Peeta argued.

"And I'm a grown woman." she retorted. "Can you just ignore me, when I'm the one screaming at night from my nightmares?"

"That's different. I'm your fiance, not your friend. I'm _supposed _to take care of you."

"I seem to remember_ many months _of you taking care of me when we were not much more than friends." she reminded him. "And I don't know how I ever would have gotten through it without you."

"If he's in such bad shape, why don't you bring him back to the hospital and _they_ can take care of him!"

"Because, he doesn't _want_ to be in the hospital! He needs a friend right now and I owe him that!" she argued.

Peeta just stood there before her, rubbing his forehead. Katniss could be so damn stubborn sometimes. He knew she meant well by taking care of her friend, but he didn't like it, not one bit. He understood that Gale was upset and hurting right now, and with good reason, but he also wouldn't put it past Gale to use that to his advantage with Katniss, especially when they both were emotionally vulnerable.

"_Please_, Peeta." Katniss said softly. "He needs to be functional tomorrow. It's just for one night. I promise you'll have me back tomorrow!"

He sighed. He knew he wasn't going to win this battle. "Oh, okay, fine. Just for tonight..."

Peeta pulled her body close to his. "But I _really _don't like the thought of another man being in your bed." he whispered to her.

"Don't worry, there is only one man I want in my bed." she said. "And the day after tomorrow, that man will be my husband!" Katniss leaned in and kissed her fiance.

Then she added, "Thank you for letting me do this for Gale, he doesn't have anyone else."

"Like I really had any choice!" he said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "When you get something in your head, there is _no _changing your mind!"

"That's why you love me!" she said, smiling sweetly at him.

"Yeah, something like that!" he answered, then waved her off. "Well, go on then and take care of Gale. But remember- _boundaries! _Set down your boundaries and _make sure _he respects them! If he doesn't, then he can look forward to a little chat with me, and I will be redrawing his boundary lines _far, far_ away from you. I'll see you in the morning. I love you."

"I will. I love you too," she said. Then she smirked at him and added, "By the way, you're _awfully_ cute when you're jealous! I think I kind of like it."

"I'm not jealous," he said. "I'm just protective of what I care about."

"Well, it's sweet. And Gale is not a threat, so I don't need protecting." she said.

"Hmm, where have I heard that before?" Peeta asked sarcastically. "Oh yeah, I remember- it was right before Gale made out with you and then tried to take you away from me."

"Oh, stop..." Katniss said, squeezing his hands affectionately. "That was a long time ago."

"Not long enough." Peeta answered.

"I'll miss you tonight. I hope you'll miss me too." she told him.

"Of course I will. Goodnight." he told her.

"Goodnight." Katniss said, as she kissed Peeta goodbye, then headed to Gale's room, where he had stayed until the games started, to find him some clean pajamas. She managed to find him some clean boxers, a t-shirt and pajama pants.

Gale was still in the shower when she got back to her own room. She knocked on the bathroom door and told him that she was leaving clean pajamas on the sink vanity for him.

Then she ordered some soup and bread and fruit from the hotel room service. She needed to make sure he ate something.

Right after their dinner arrived, Gale emerged from the bathroom, smelling of soap, and in his clean pajamas.

"Ah, much improved already!" Katniss said. She walked over to him, took his hand and led him to the coffee table. "Come on, Hawthorne, you need to eat. I'll have you back to life in no time!" she said cheerfully.

He had to admit, he did feel better after showering and eating. But he was dreading the night ahead, already fearing the nightmares looming on the horizon.

Katniss saw his eyes cloud over as he thought about it.

"Don't worry Gale. You're going to stay here with me tonight and I'll be here to help you get though it, okay? You won't be alone. You need to get some sleep."

"What about Peeta?" he asked.

"He knows you're here." Katniss explained. "You just worry about getting a good night's sleep."

She tucked him into her bed, and then she crawled in on the other side.

"Goodnight Gale. Remember, I'm right here if you need me, okay?"

"Goodnight Katniss, and, um... thank you for doing this for me. It means a lot. You're the best friend I could ever ask for."

Katniss reached over and squeezed his hand, then shut off the light.

It was only about an hour later that Katniss woke up to Gale screaming, in the throes of a nightmare.

She turned on the light, then shook him to wake him up.

"Gale! Gale, wake up! You're dreaming!" she said loudly.

Gale's eyes flew open. They were all teary, and he looked terrified. As soon as he realized that she was right there in front of him, he suddenly sat up, grabbed her and pulled her close.

"You're really here with me!" he said.

"Well, yeah, Gale, you're in _my_ bed, remember?" she asked.

"Oh, thank you, thank you." he whispered. "It's such a relief to wake up and not be alone!"

"I know." she replied. "Come on, lie down. I'll lie with you, okay?"

Gale lay down on his back, and Katniss snuggled up next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. For a second, it caused Gale to feel a sharp stab of sadness in his heart, because it reminded him of how Prim had often slept with her head on his shoulder in the arena.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked him.

"Yes, this is nice. Thank you." he answered, yawning.

She shut off the light again. Gale fell instantly back to sleep, comforted by her warm presence next to him.

Gale woke up again about an hour or so later, but this time it wasn't a nightmare that woke him. It was because Katniss had disturbed him when she changed her position in her sleep. She turned over so that she was facing away from him. At first he was disappointed that she had moved because he had been so warm and comfortable with her snuggled up to his side.

Then, a moment later, even though she was obviously asleep, he felt Katniss reach back towards him, find his arm and pull it towards her body. She wrapped Gale's arm tight around her waist, so that his body ended up spooned up against hers. He felt her snuggle backwards into his warmth, pressing her ass right up against his crotch, and she held his hand against her chest, pressed against the swell of her breast.

"Mmmmm..." she sighed contentedly in her sleep.

Gale thought he was going to hyperventilate from being so close to her body, his hand practically on top of her breast, only her thin cotton camisole between them.

_Oh my God, _Gale realized, _This must be how she sleeps with Peeta. She thinks that it's him in bed with her._

He suddenly was very envious of Peeta. To get to sleep like this, wrapped around her beautiful body every night?

_Oh, Peeta, you are SO God damn lucky! _Gale thought.

He relaxed his head on the pillow and tried to sleep. His face was practically touching her neck, and she smelled so good. Being this close to her was intoxicating. He looked at the soft skin of her neck in front of him in the moonlight, and he couldn't resist leaning in and kissing her lightly on the neck once, and then again.

She softly sighed in her sleep.

Gale felt himself getting hard, and he decided he better stop before Katniss woke up and got mad at him. He didn't want to ruin this wonderful moment. He wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

He forced himself to relax, and after a few minutes, finally succumbed to his exhaustion, and fell back to sleep, spooned up against her. It was the best sleep he'd had in weeks. Maybe it was the relief of knowing that she didn't hate him, or maybe it was just the warmth and comfort of his friend's embrace. He and Katniss slept like that, spooned together, for six solid hours, and neither one of them had any more nightmares.

The next time Gale woke up, it was very early in the morning, when the dusk was just beginning to give way to the first light of dawn. He woke because Katniss was moving again in her sleep. She turned over towards him, so that they were both on their side, facing each other. She slowly slid her thigh up over his legs, and draped her arm over his waist. Her face was just inches from his. She looked so peaceful and serene as she slept.

Gale suddenly felt that stab of jealousy again.

_Peeta gets to wake up to this beautiful sight every morning._

He studied her face, wanting to memorize every detail, so that he would always remember this moment, waking up with the only girl he'd ever loved, their bodies entwined together.

Gale reached up and touched her face. He traced his finger along her forehead, and then tucked a loose tendril of hair behind her ear.

Katniss opened her eyes sleepily. Gale just stayed there, gazing at her dreamily, with his hand still touching the side of her face near her ear.

As soon as she realized that it was Gale she was so intimately embracing and not Peeta, she instinctively started to back away, looking embarrassed.

"Oh, please don't do that!" Gale whispered to her. "Please don't pull away from me..."

She stopped moving. "Gale-" she started.

"_Please," _he begged. "He gets to watch you wake up every single morning. But me, I will only ever have today. _Please_ let me have this moment for just a little while longer... For the past two weeks, I have felt nothing but pain. Being here with you like this, holding you, it takes away the pain... It makes me feel _whole_ again, even if it's only for a short time. _Please_ let me hold you just a little longer..."

"Oh...okay," she sighed. "Come here." She hugged her friend close to her again.

He held her, gently caressing his hand up and down her back. He nuzzled his face down into the side of her neck and breathed in the scent of her skin, clean like soap and lavender.

Katniss had never seen Gale this tender, gentle, needy. She had to admit, she was enjoying this emotional side of Gale.

_Be careful, girl. _She thought to herself. _Don't let Gale get to you._

But Gale looked at her with those adoring eyes, and she was falling.

He brought his hand up and touched her face again. He ran his fingers down her cheek, then trailed his thumb lightly across her bottom lip. With his hand so close to her face, she could see the jagged pink lines on his palm where his cuts from Raven's spear were still healing. It reminded her of how grateful she was for how he had protected Prim.

As he slowly moved his thumb along her lip, she gently took his hand, brought it to her mouth, and softly kissed the healing scars on his palm, as if kissing the cut would make it better... then slowly pulled her mouth away.

She heard Gale catch his breath in surprise and pleasure, and she watched his gray eyes change from soft and adoring to dark and lustful.

_Uh-oh._

As soon as she'd done it, she wished she hadn't. She had just given Gale the totally wrong idea. She had only meant it as a gesture of caring and affection for her friend, but Gale had taken it as an invitation for more.

"I would give _anything_ to feel your mouth like that all over my body," Gale said in a very low voice.

"Gale, you know I can't do that." she whispered. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate everything you did for Prim."

Katniss knew that Gale was hurting _so_ much...he was heartsick that she was marrying Peeta tomorrow, he was sad about Prim, and she wished that she could make him feel better... she wanted to ease his pain, to try to heal his broken heart, even if it was only a little bit. But she couldn't do what he wanted her to.

"I wish you could love me..." he sighed.

"I know you do," she said to him. "If things were different, if I didn't have Peeta, I would give you more. But I can't. I love you as my best friend, but I can't love you like _that."_

He was looking at her longingly, with flushed cheeks and his eyes dark. They were still wrapped in their close embrace, lying on their sides, gazing at each other.

She didn't want to hurt Gale's feelings, but she needed to make it clear that she wasn't going to let this go any further. She loved Peeta too much.

"Gale, I think we better stop this. _Please_." she said, pleading.

Gale backed off a little, breaking some of the sexual tension between them.

"Okay." he said softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Thank you." she whispered. "I'm sorry I can't give you what you want."

"It's alright, I understand... but could I make one last request?" he asked.

"What is it?"

"Please let me kiss you, Katniss. Just once. I need to kiss you one last time."

"I don't know, Gale," she said softly. "I've already bent the rules too much tonight, just by letting you stay here. Peeta was _not_ in favor of this."

"I know you have, and I am _so _grateful for what you've given me. But I have to stand next to you tomorrow and watch you marry him. He will get to kiss you every day for the rest of your life. But me, I will never, ever have the chance to kiss you again. And I don't want your only memory of kissing me to be the kiss we shared in the woods. I didn't handle that the way I wanted to... I was hurt and angry, and I pressured you and hurt your feelings. I want one more chance, to kiss you goodbye before I have to let you go."

She was quiet as she thought about it for a moment. Was it really so much to ask, after everything he had done to protect Prim in the arena? This man had been ready to die for her, and all he wanted in return was a kiss.

"_Please_, Katniss," Gale begged. "_Please_ just give me two minutes... one last kiss for closure."

His eyes were so sad, and so sincere. She held her hand against his face.

She was so torn. She hated to tell Gale no, after everything he had done for her, but she remembered how Peeta had reacted the last time she'd confessed to a kiss with Gale... how she'd thought that Peeta was going to leave her. She never wanted to feel that way again. She couldn't imagine her life without him. She understood that it had taken an enormous amount of trust for Peeta to allow her to spend this night with Gale. She couldn't break that trust.

Her eyes filled up with tears. Her voice cracked as she spoke, barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry Gale, but I can't. I love Peeta, and I am marrying him tomorrow. Do you have any idea how hurt and angry Peeta would be if he knew I kissed you on the day before our wedding?"

"So don't tell him." Gale pleaded. "I won't say anything, I promise!"

"Dishonesty is no way to start a marriage, Gale."

The tears that had welled up in her eyes now streamed down her face. Gale wiped away her tears with his hand.

"I'm sorry, Katniss." he said. "Now I've gone and made you cry. I'm sorry, it was selfish of me to ask, especially the day before your wedding. Peeta is a lucky man. He deserves you more than I do."

"I'm just sorry that you're hurting and I can't fix it."

"We're _all _hurting Katniss. You, me, Peeta... we are _all _fucked up, thanks to the government."

"I'm tired of hurting, Gale, and I'm tired of everyone I care about hurting. We've all been through enough. I just want to live happily ever after."

"And you will." Gale promised her. "Tomorrow you are going to be a beautiful bride, you are going to marry the man you love, and I will be right there next to you, supporting my best friend."

She hugged Gale tightly. She knew it couldn't have been easy for Gale to say that.

"Thank you, I needed that." she said.

"And thank _you." _Gale said. "For the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. _I _needed _that. _Thank you for taking care of me. I feel so much better now that I've slept."

"You know what's funny, Gale? I slept too. This was the first night in a while that I've gotten a good night's sleep. Maybe it was because I was the caretaker, instead of the one being cared for. Whatever it was, I feel a lot better."

"That's good, I'm glad that you slept too." Gale told her.

He paused a moment, then said, "Well, I'm going to go back to my own room now, before Peeta comes over to make sure I haven't had my wicked way with you." He smirked at her as he climbed out of her bed. "I'll see you this afternoon for the crowning."

He gathered up his dirty clothes from the bathroom that he'd worn over last night and turned to leave.

"We'll be there." she replied, as she watched Gale heading for the door.

She sighed, rolled over and went back to sleep, hoping that Gale was right... that everything was going to be okay for the three of them.

A little while later, Peeta was awake and pacing around his room. It was driving him crazy, knowing that Gale had spent the night in Katniss' room. He trusted her, but he didn't trust Gale.

He wanted so badly to go across the hall and go into her room and see if Gale was still there...but what if he didn't like what he saw? Even if they were just innocently lying close together fully clothed, he would still feel jealous, that Gale shouldn't be in her bed.

Peeta decided that he needed to know. He was missing Katniss very much anyway, so if Gale was gone, then he could crawl into bed with her.

He went across the hall and turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. He slowly entered, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was only one body in her bed. He lifted the blanket and slid into the bed next to her.

She opened her eyes when she felt the movement.

"Oh, hi love." she murmured, reaching for him.

He curled himself around her.

"Gale left already?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, he said he didn't want to be here when you came looking to make sure he hadn't had his way with me." she said, yawning.

"Smart man." Peeta said. "Did he behave himself?"

"Yes... mostly."

"What do you mean, _mostly?_" Peeta asked.

"He did ask if he could kiss me goodbye this morning..." she admitted.

"_What?"_ Peeta exclaimed.

"But I said no." Katniss told him, turning herself over so she could hug Peeta close to her. "There is no one I want to kiss me but you." She smiled sweetly at him. "In fact, I would like it very much if you kissed me right now."

Peeta did kiss her. Then he looked into her face, so close to his own.

"You look better today." he observed. "You look... _Rested."_

"Yeah, I feel better. It was funny, Peeta... I slept really well. I don't know if it was because for once, I was being the caretaker, looking after Gale, or what it was, but we both slept. It was good. I needed the rest."

"So Gale is feeling better too?" he asked.

"Yes, he looked much better this morning than he did last night."

"That's good." Peeta said.

"In fact, we both slept so well that I told him he could sleep over with me again tonight." Katniss teased.

Peeta looked at her, and try as she might, she couldn't keep a straight face... a giggle escaped her lips.

_She must be well rested, _Peeta thought to himself. _Her smartass mouth is back._

As quick as lightning, Peeta grabbed onto her waist, flipped her over so she was on top of him, straddling his body, and he playfully gave her a good swift slap on the ass.

"Ow!" she laughed, rubbing her bottom where he'd just spanked her.

"That's for being a smartass." he teased, grabbing her face with both hands and pulling her in for a deep kiss.

"Oh, so we're back to that again, are we?" she finally said when he released her mouth from the kiss.

"If you're going to be naughty and tease me like that, then I'm going to have to spank you."

"I don't think I would do that if I were you..." she purred. "You know I like it when you spank me. And by the way, I haven't even _begun _to tease you yet."

She started moving her hips, rubbing herself against him, and leaned her upper body down towards him, so that her chest was practically right in front of his face, so tempting in just that thin little camisole...

He moved his hands from her hips up to her waist underneath her shirt. He wanted so badly to pull that camisole off her body and kiss her breasts, but he was fighting the urge.

"What do you think you're doing, miss naughty girl?"

"_Now_ I'm teasing you." she answered, as she leaned down further and sucked on his earlobe for a moment.

"Oh, that's just _cruel." _Peeta grinned at her.

"You're the one who put me on top." she replied, as she continued slowly grinding herself against his growing hardness.

With that, he quickly rolled her over again so that now she was on the bottom and he was on top of her.

"Well, let's just see how _you _like being teased." Peeta whispered in her ear, as he kissed down her neck, at the same time rubbing himself between her legs, making sure she could feel how hard he now was for her. He spoke in a low, sultry voice into her ear again...

"I guess I'll have to thank Gale for getting you good and rested for me, because you won't be getting _any _sleep tomorrow night. I am going to fuck you again...and again...and again..."

Her hands moved to Peeta's hips, pulling him tighter against her body, enjoying the delicious friction of him moving between her legs.

He felt her breath catch with excitement, and saw her eyelids flutter as her eyes rolled back in her head with the enjoyment of his movements against her, combined with the thoughts of what he was promising to do to her tomorrow.

Then he quickly pulled away from her, stood up next to the bed, and reached for her hand.

"You ready to get up and start the day now?" he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

Katniss just lay there, with her legs spread wide open still, looking disappointed.

"Now _that_ was cruel." she pouted.

"Now we're even." he smiled, taking her hand to pull her out of bed.


	29. Chapter 29

"Are you excited for your final fitting this morning?" Peeta asked Katniss, as he sat on the edge of her bed and watched her get dressed.

"Yes. I can't wait for you to see me tomorrow!" she said.

"Me too, baby. I can't wait either. I know you'll be beautiful." he told her softly, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

Peeta stood up and said, "Well, I guess I'd better head back to my room and get out of these pajamas. Portia will be mad if I'm late. Plus I need to find where I put my victor's crown. Why don't you order us something for breakfast, and I'll be back in a half hour or so to eat with you before we go for our fittings, okay?"

"Okay, love." she said, kissing him goodbye.

Peeta went to his room and dressed as quickly as he could. He needed to go into the capitol square and pick up Katniss' flowers at the florist.

Fortunately, the shopkeeper had the bouquet all ready for him as soon as he arrived.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked him. "Is it what you had in mind?"

The bouquet was beautiful. It was full and lush, bright with color, and it smelled so good, from the lilies and lilacs.

"Oh, it's perfect." Peeta smiled. "She is going to absolutely love it! Thank you so much!"

The shopkeeper told him the cost, and Peeta paid her, plus gave her a large tip as well for the excellent service.

He rushed back to Katniss' suite, dying of excitement to give her the flowers.

He knocked on the door, and then opened it, keeping his hand that held the bouquet outside the door frame so she couldn't see it.

She was sitting at the coffee table, with their breakfast spread out before her. He saw her pop a bite of muffin in her mouth, then she startled, and tried to hide it as he looked in.

"Why, Katniss, are you eating without me?" he teased.

"No," she said with her mouth full.

"Then what's in your mouth?" he asked.

She swallowed quickly, smiling. "Nothing!"

"Do I need to come over there and taste your mouth to see if you're lying to me?" he taunted her.

"Okay, okay, I had some muffin!" she laughed, "But it wasn't as good as the muffins _you_ make!"

He walked over to her with his hand behind his back, holding the bouquet.

"I can't wait to get home and bake for you again." he said sweetly, as he bent over and kissed her.

"What's behind your back?" she asked curiously.

"I've got a surprise for you. A little something to bring to your final fitting." He brought his hand out to her and handed her the bouquet of wildflowers.

Her eyes opened wide, and a huge smile lit up her whole face.

"Oh my gosh, Peeta! Wildflowers! They're so beautiful! I love it! Thank you!" she jumped up and threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. "You are so thoughtful! I really love them."

"I thought that you might like to have them for your final fitting, so you could see yourself in the mirror the way that you described yourself to me, as a bride wearing a pretty dress and carrying a wildflower bouquet."

Katniss melted. "Oh, Peeta, that is the sweetest thing ever!"

He continued, "I also thought that you might like to bring them with you tonight to the crowning ceremony. I know it will be hard for you to watch all the footage of the game, and have to watch Prim and Gale all over again... if your hands start shaking, you can hide them under your bouquet... and I hoped that the flowers might make you feel better... see all the little yellow primroses in there?"

She looked down into the bouquet. She hadn't noticed them at first, hiding amongst the other brightly colored flowers, but now that he'd pointed them out, she saw lots of them.

"That's to remind you that Prim is right there with you." he said quietly.

She felt her eyes fill up with tears of gratitude for this man who made her feel so loved and cherished.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?" she asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Tell me again." he smiled.

"I love you more than anything in this whole world. You make my heart happy." she gushed, then kissed him.

"You make my heart happy too." he told her. "I can't wait to make you my wife tomorrow."

"Me too!" She replied.

"You know what else I can't wait for?" he asked, grinning.

"What?"

"Breakfast! I'm starving! Come on, sit down. We've got to hurry up and eat so we can get going to our fittings!" he laughed.

She laughed too, wiped her teary eyes and sat down next to him to have breakfast.

Shortly after, they left the hotel to go to their final fittings. Katniss held her wildflower bouquet in one hand, and held Peeta's hand with the other.

She was so grateful to have someone like Peeta who loved her. She appreciated how even during her darkest times, like now, when she was mourning for her sister, Peeta found ways to give her moments of happiness. He was like a beacon of light in the dark.

When they got to the studio, he gave her a quick kiss goodbye before they were each whisked away by Portia and Cinna for their fittings.

"I'm glad to see that you look better this morning." Cinna told Katniss.

"Thank you."

"What's with the flowers?" he asked.

"Peeta got them for me. He thought I might like to have a bouquet to hold when I try on my dress and veil... you know, to complete the look and feel like a bride." she said, smiling broadly.

Cinna smiled back at her. "That boy is good to you."

"Yes, he is." she agreed. "Shall we go get my dress?"

"Well aren't you eager to get started!" he teased.

"Not as eager as I will be tomorrow!"

Cinna brought her over to the dressing area and got her dress ready for her again, but this time he made her stand with her back to the mirror. He didn't want her to see herself just yet. He put it on her and laced it all up, then handed her the shoes to put on.

"Can I look now?" she asked.

"No, not until we get your hair and veil done."

Flavius quickly put her hair into the half-updo again. He didn't bother to make it perfect, just good enough to get the idea. Then he anchored the crown around her curls on top of her head, and put the veil in the back of her hair.

Cinna helped her up out of the chair, straightened out her dress and veil, and led her back to the dressing area. Before letting her look in the mirror, he handed her the wildflower bouquet.

"Okay, now you can look." he said softly.

She turned and looked at her reflection.

She gasped. She looked _beautiful_... and she didn't even have any makeup on! The dress seemed to fit her even better than it had yesterday. Cinna must have made some tiny adjustments, because now it perfectly hugged every curve of her silhouette, and made her hunter's body look willowy and graceful.

"Well, what do you think?" Cinna asked. "Do you feel like a bride?"

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait for Peeta to see me!"

"Believe me, Peeta won't be able to _breathe_ when he sees you tomorrow." Cinna said.

She laughed. It felt so good to laugh again, to have something to be happy about. But as she looked down at her wildflower bouquet, even her happy moment turned bittersweet. She touched the petals of one of the yellow primroses and her heart ached, wishing that her sister could be here to share in this moment with her.

She wanted to carry _this_ bouquet tomorrow when she married Peeta. To hell with the president's roses. These flowers were given to her with love... they made her feel loved by Peeta and made her feel like Prim was there, in spirit at least.

Cinna broke her train of thought.

"Well, let's get you out of your dress now. You will have all day tomorrow to wear it!" he said. "You still need to meet with the wedding planner for a quick rehearsal, and then you'll have to go get ready for the festivities this afternoon."

_Ugh, _she thought. She was not looking forward to this afternoon at all. Everyone would have to sit through the long, drawn out review with footage of all the highlights of this year's Hunger Games, followed by Gale being crowned as the winner, and then a short interview session with Gale and Caesar.

She did not want to watch the review, did not want to see Gale subjected to reliving his experience, and she did not want to wear that stupid fucking crown all afternoon and evening, but she had no choice.

Once she was dressed in her regular clothes again, Cinna found Portia, to make sure that Peeta was ready for the rehearsal, and they walked out into the capitol square to meet with the planner. Katniss carried her wildflower bouquet and her victor's crown with her.

Out in the square, there were lots of people hard at work getting everything ready for tomorrow's wedding. They still had the tall scaffolding set up with the television screens, but they had lowered the stage area to only about three feet off the ground, so she would only have a few stairs to climb in her dress.

The planner came over and introduced herself.

"This is where you'll be getting married," she told them, pointing to the stage. "You will be picked up from your prep teams' studios in a horse drawn carriage and driven through the streets to the square, so you can wave to the crowds as you pass by."

_Can this wedding possibly get any more ridiculous? _Katniss thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

She hated that this was being promoted as some royal wedding or something. All she had ever wanted was something simple and intimate. Now she was going to be paraded through the streets riding in a carriage like some fairy tale princess... the only problem was that it was all just smoke and mirrors. The capitol, the Hunger Games, and the President's sinister motives all made for the darkest, most twisted and perverse fairy tale she could imagine.

The planner went on. "First, Peeta and Gale will be brought to the square in the carriage..."

_Oh, that ought to be interesting! _Katniss thought.

"Then the carriage will return to pick up the bride."

"I understand why Peeta has to go separately, so he won't see me before it's time, but why can't Gale come with me?" she asked. "He's _my-_" she was about to say 'best friend' but corrected herself- "_my_ cousin."

"Because he is one of the groomsmen. They always go with the groom. Besides, the crowd is going to want to see the bride. You are the highlight of the day!"

Katniss rolled her eyes again.

"When you arrive, there will be a carpeted runner that goes the whole length of the square, from over there-" pointing to the side opposite side of the square, "all the way across the square to the stage. You will walk up to the stage and say your vows there."

_That's a pretty long walk, with a lot of people watching..._ Katniss thought nervously.

The planner continued, "When the ceremony is over, the wedding party and invited guests will be brought to the ballroom in the Presidential mansion for the reception."

Katniss swallowed hard. She did not want to be in the President's mansion at all. She knew she would be very uncomfortable and anxious to get out of there. But, she realized that President Snow had probably planned it that way on purpose to make her uncomfortable, to throw her off balance. That way he would feel like he had the upper hand.

"Speaking of the wedding party, I know that you have a best man, but will you be having a maid of honor?" the planner asked.

"No." Katniss replied. "That was always supposed to be my sister's role, but now that she's gone, I just wouldn't feel right having anyone else take her place."

Katniss felt Peeta squeeze her hand.

"Okay," the planner said, as she made a couple of notes in her notebook. "Well, I guess that's about it then! The ceremony starts at four o'clock in the afternoon, so don't be late! Any questions?"

Neither Peeta nor Katniss could think of anything, so they both shook their heads.

"Okay then! Guess you better go get ready for this afternoon!"

Peeta took her hand and they walked back to the hotel to get ready for the crowning.

Katniss wondered how Gale would hold up through all the stress of tonight. She was just glad that he had come to her last night for support, and that he had gotten a good night's sleep. It would have been disastrous if Gale had shown up to the crowning today in the shape he'd been in yesterday when he had appeared at her door.

As they got ready to go, Peeta could tell that Katniss was getting nervous and tense. He put his own crown on, and then helped her pin her crown into her hair so it wouldn't fall off while she walked.

"Are you going to be okay tonight?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I think so." she answered. "It will be worse for Gale, with everyone in the world watching him."

"Well, at least this is the last difficult thing that we'll all have to sit through this week. The three of us can go home soon." Peeta reassured her.

They arrived at the ceremony and were seated in the front row with the other mentors.

The review of all the highlight footage from this year's game felt like it lasted forever to Katniss.

It was heartbreaking to watch all the moments with Prim and Gale working together as a team, and even harder to relive all the touching moments when they had comforted each other. They showed the clips of Prim poisoning the other tributes, earning her the nickname "Poison Prim". The crowd cheered loudly when they showed the entire gruesome Fire Ivy scene.

They made sure to show all the heart-wrenching footage... Prim crying the first night of the Games, Gale teaching her how to shoot the bow in the meadow, Gale carrying her when she couldn't walk, Prim pulling Gale's fist away from his forehead to hold his hand when he didn't have enough water to clean her ankle wound, and Prim telling him that it would all be okay, at least they wouldn't die alone.

Katniss felt big, warm tears falling down her face and landing on the bouquet of flowers sitting in her lap as she watched. Just as Peeta had predicted, her hands were shaking and she was grateful to have the bouquet. She held her flowers in one hand, and Peeta's hand with the other.

Gale was seated in a big comfortable chair on the stage, watching all the footage on the big screens. He looked good. His prep team had dressed him in a tasteful suit, and he looked much healthier than he had just one day ago. Katniss could tell that he was struggling to keep his composure during all of the scenes with himself and Prim. Often he would bow his head and pinch the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, with his eyes squeezed shut tight, trying to force away the tears that threatened to spill if he opened his eyes.

She was grateful for whenever they showed footage of the other tributes and gave them a short reprieve from watching Prim and Gale.

Of course the hardest part came at the end, when they showed the entire scene with Prim and Gale and Curran.

Gale finally got to see how it was that Curran had ended up catching her, when she stumbled on her injured ankle. Gale watched angrily as Curran pinned her down on the ground beneath him. When he heard Curran make the comment to Prim about how he would have been fucking her if he was Gale, he felt his stomach knot up in disgust and his eyes were suddenly ablaze with anger. He hadn't known about that until now, because he had been searching the woods for Prim when it happened. Curran was almost as old as Gale. The thought of him looking at Prim like that, like a sexual object for his own gratification when she was practically still a child, made Gale wish that Curran was there with him right now so he could kill him all over again.

While they showed that footage, Katniss had let go of the stems of her bouquet and had her hand resting on top of the flowers, her fingers softly stroking the silky petals of one perfect, vibrant yellow primrose. She looked down at the flower and thought of her sister. It reminded her of how she wanted to remember Prim... not injured and bloody like she had been in the arena, but alive and beautiful and vibrant like the flower. She closed her eyes and remembered the yellow satin dress that Cinna had dressed her in for the interview before the Games started, how pretty she had looked.

She felt Peeta squeeze her other hand, and she opened her watery eyes and looked up at him.

"You okay?" he whispered.

She just nodded.

Peeta lifted their hands that were clasped together and he kissed the top of her hand.

Katniss looked up at Gale again on the stage. They had reached the final moments when Prim lay dying in Gale's arms, holding his hand.

Gale was sitting forward, his elbows resting on his knees, looking up at the screen, with his hand over his mouth. Katniss saw a tear silently fall from each of his eyes as he watched Prim slip away, and then the review was over.

Katniss breathed a sigh of relief that Gale had made it through without totally falling apart. Peeta thought the same exact thing about Katniss.

After the review finished, Gale quickly wiped his face with the back of his hand. They asked him to stand at the front of the stage, and President Snow walked up to him and placed the victor's crown on top of his head. The crowd applauded and cheered for Gale.

Caesar walked over to Gale, put his arm around Gale's back and led him back to the chair to sit down for his interview, and Caesar sat in another chair facing him.

Caesar waved at the audience, and addressed the crowd first.

"Gale Hawthorne, everyone! Your new victor!"

The crowd cheered loudly again. When they finally quieted down, Caesar addressed Gale.

"Well, congratulations on your win, Gale! How do you feel?"

Gale was quiet for a moment as he contemplated how to answer.

"Caesar, to be honest, I feel like the wrong person won."

"What do you mean?" Caesar asked.

"That amazing young woman we all saw..." Gale said, pointing back to the huge television screens that were now blank, "Prim? She should be wearing the crown right now."

"Interesting! Why do you feel that she should have won and not you?"

"Because Prim entered the arena as a frightened, unprepared little girl, and in the span of two weeks, she grew and adapted and changed into the brave fighter that we all saw at the end. She learned how to be strong. She learned how to overcome her fear. She learned how to defend herself, how to strategize and outsmart other tributes who were older and much better trained than she was. She embodied what the Hunger Games is all about... being able to triumph over everything that is thrown at you, no matter how desperate your situation. And she had all those traits in her all along, because she was an Everdeen."

The audience clapped and cheered loudly at Gale's humble answer.

"But Gale, couldn't you say the same about yourself? After all, you have Everdeen in you, too..." Caesar said.

"Believe me, Caesar, it's not the same. Prim had the same stubborn, fighting spirit in her that her sister Katniss has. Every drop of blood in her body was Everdeen. She just didn't have enough time to fully realize her potential. The only place I truly have Everdeen in me is in my heart."

Katniss hung her head at Gale's veiled admission of love for her, as well as not really being related to her, which no one in the crowd would have gotten except for her and Peeta.

"Let's talk about your most powerful moment in the game, when you killed Curran at the end. Tell us what was going through your head at that moment when you went after him. Did you already have your plan in place as to how you were going to kill him? Could you taste victory, so close at hand?"

"No, Caesar. I wasn't even thinking about victory in that moment. All I was thinking about was trying to save Prim's life so she could win, because I felt that she had earned it. Curran had hurt her, so I wanted to hurt him. It was as simple as that. I had no plan in place, I was just running on adrenaline and revenge. I just wanted him to die, however I could get it done. Slitting his throat was just an instinct, a means to an instant death, just like slaughtering an animal. That's all Curran was to me, an animal. You heard the vile, disgusting things he said to Prim. Only an animal would say such things to a young girl."

The audience cheered loudly once again.

Caesar prepared to wrap up the interview.

"Gale, you are a good man... strong and smart and handsome and protective, and now you are a victor. I'm sure that you will have your pick of any number of young ladies across Panem who would love to date you. But tell me, man to man... is there a special girl back home that you will be looking forward to reuniting with? Any lucky girl who will be breaking hearts all across Panem tonight because you only have eyes for her?"

Gale lowered his head for a second as he considered what to say to that.

"No, Caesar, there is no one waiting at home for me. There is only one girl that I've ever had eyes for, and unfortunately for me, she already belongs to someone else, a good man who loves her and makes her happy. So, no... I am very single. The only heart that will be breaking in Panem tonight is mine."

A sigh swept across the audience.

Katniss felt her cheeks flush pink. At least no one in the crowd would know or suspect that he was talking about her, because as far as they knew, Gale was her cousin. No one knew except Peeta, anyway.

"Well!" Caesar exclaimed, smiling, "I'm sure we could start a line right here in front of the stage with young ladies who would be more than happy to help you take your mind off of her!"

Caesar laughed heartily, and Gale laughed along with him.

"Yeah, maybe that would be helpful!" Gale joked.

Caesar stood up and motioned for Gale to stand as well. Caesar held his arm out, pointing to Gale.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your victor of this year's Hunger Games, and apparently, Panem's most eligible bachelor, Gale Hawthorne!"

Gale smiled and waved at the audience, relived that this ordeal was finally over.

He caught Katniss' eye for a brief moment, and she wanted badly to run to him and hug him, thankful that he seemed to have made it through tonight unscathed.

As soon as it was all over and Gale could leave the stage, she looked at Peeta, and he already knew what she wanted. All he needed to say to her was two words.

"Go ahead." he told her.

She ran over to Gale and threw her arms around him. Gale hugged her back, briefly glancing up over Katniss' shoulder at Peeta who was standing just a few feet away, before casting his eyes back down.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Gale!" she said. "You look a lot better. How do you feel now that it's all over?"

"Have you ever heard the old saying, 'heavy is the head that wears the crown'?" Gale asked her.

"Yes."

"Well, I understand what that means now. I hate the burden that this crown carries, along with all the emotional baggage that comes with it." Gale said.

"I know what you mean." Katniss agreed. "All you can do is try not to let it define who you are."

"Thank you." Gale told her, as he released her from his embrace. "Well, you better go get a good night's sleep, Katniss. You have a very important day tomorrow."

Gale took her by the hand, walked her back to Peeta, and handed her over to him.

"Take good care of her Peeta." Gale said, as she let go of Gale's hand and took Peeta's.

"I will. I promise." Peeta replied, then they turned and started walking towards the hotel.

Gale watched them walk away, and then he pulled the crown off his head and held it in his hands.

His head felt very heavy indeed.


	30. Chapter 30

Katniss woke the next morning, spooned snugly into the warmth of Peeta's body. She looked around the room. She figured it must be around dawn, because there was just the slightest hint of pale light coming through the edges of the drapes on the picture window.

She realized that she had slept the whole entire night without waking up once. It had been so long since she'd had a night like this, completely uninterrupted. The last thing she remembered was getting into bed and lying with her head on Peeta's shoulder and her arm resting on his chest, feeling the comforting sensation of Peeta softly stroking her hair as she drifted off to sleep. At some point, she'd turned herself over and assumed her favorite sleeping position, with him wrapped around her. And now it was her wedding day, and she felt good..._really_ good, for the first time in ages.

She turned over onto her back so she could face Peeta. He was still sleeping, so she just looked at him. She was glad that she hadn't woken him up all night. He looked so peaceful. She admired his handsome face, and smiled when she reminded herself that when she woke up with him tomorrow, he would be her husband.

She reached up and fixed a few locks of his blond hair that had fallen across his forehead, then rested her hand on his cheek.

His eyelids fluttered as he woke, and then looked at her, gazing softly back at him.

"Hi, baby." he murmured softly.

"Hi." she whispered back, then moved her face towards his and kissed him softly.

"You're in a good mood this morning." he observed.

"It's a good day." Katniss said. "I slept all night, and today I get to marry you. I am very, very happy."

"You slept all night?" he asked.

"Yeah, slept like a baby."

"Oh, that's so good!" Peeta said, pulling her close and hugging her tightly. "Maybe your mind realized that the Games were over, and Gale is going to be okay, and you could finally have some peace."

"Yeah, I guess that must be it." she agreed.

"What time is it?" he asked her.

"I don't know. Early. But the wedding isn't until four o'clock, so we have plenty of time to stay snuggled in bed this morning, and that's all I care about right now."

Peeta held her, caressing his hand up and down her back. They stayed that way, not needing to say a word, for a long time. It was so good, to just have quiet time together, to enjoy each other's company.

Finally, after they had cuddled together for quite a while, Peeta said, "Well, I guess we should probably get up now. I have a feeling that today is going to go by very quickly."

They were scheduled to meet with their prep teams to start getting ready at noon, so the morning did seem like it flew by. Before they knew it, it was time to get ready to go.

"Don't forget your crown, Peeta." Katniss reminded him.

She grabbed hers, and while she was at it, she also picked up her wildflower bouquet and started heading for the door. She was intercepted by Peeta, who grabbed her by the wrist.

"You're not bringing that with you." he said.

She was surprised when she looked up at him and saw that his eyes were very serious.

"Why not, Peeta? I want to. I love it, and I want to carry it when I marry you." she said.

"I'm glad that you love it, but I didn't buy you those flowers so you could get us in trouble."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Think about it, Katniss! If you show up at the wedding today and walk down the aisle with those flowers instead of the President's roses, he will take it as a _huge_ insult- a direct act of defiance. How do you think that will go over?"

He was quiet for a moment, as he let that thought sink into her head, then he continued explaining.

"The last time he felt that you rebelled, the stunt with the nightlock berries... you didn't even _mean _that as an act of defiance, you were simply trying to save our lives, and look what he did in retaliation. He reaped your sister and your best friend to get back at you. If you defy him again today, he is going to retaliate again, but this time he is going to hit you where it hurts the most. Your best friend is emotionally scarred for life, and your sister is dead. So, who do you think is next on his list, Katniss? Who do you think he will take from you next to cause you the most misery?"

She shuddered as the horror of what he was suggesting sunk in.

"You?" she whispered.

"That would be my guess." Peeta said. "I think you know that I would die for you in a heartbeat if it was to protect you and keep you safe, but I don't want to die if the only reason for it is to cause you pain and suffering. _Please _do not defy the President today, Katniss. It's not worth it. Just carry the stupid roses, okay? Please?"

Her eyes were wide with fear now, and filled with tears. She threw her arms around Peeta and hugged him to her, as tightly as she could.

"Oh my God, Peeta, I'm so sorry! I never even thought about that. How stupid of me! I can't believe I almost put our future in jeopardy!"

He hugged her back.

"It's okay." Peeta said, as he looked at her with much softer eyes now. "I know you didn't think of it. I'm happy that you love your flowers, and I wish that you could carry them like you want to, but it's just not safe for either one of us. We have to do what he wants us to, or he will make sure that we suffer the consequences."

She let go of him for a minute, walked over to the bed and set the bouquet down, then returned to Peeta and embraced him again, kissing him over and over.

"I love you so much." she told him. "I promise I won't do anything even _remotely _rebellious. I will kiss the President's ass all day, if it means you will be safe with me. I want to have a long life with you."

"I want that too." Peeta said. "Now let's go get ready to start the rest of our lives, shall we?"

She took his hand, and they left the room, headed for their prep teams.

Cinna and Portia immediately rushed them into their studios, to begin their transformations. Katniss always hated this part... the long drawn out process of getting ready for events like this. She sat through being scrubbed and lotioned, had a manicure and pedicure, sat through her makeup being applied and her hair being washed and dried and curled and pinned up.

She was glad when it finally came time to put on her dress and veil. That meant that it was getting closer to the time when she would get to see Peeta.

Cinna and her team finished putting the final touches on her, and he walked her over to the mirror so she could look at herself.

"Well, what do you think?" Cinna asked.

She stood there staring at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't believe that this was really it, she was really getting married today. She looked beautiful.

She suddenly felt very nervous, at the thought of everyone in Panem watching her walk down the aisle. What if she tripped on her dress? What if she forgot her vows? Her heart started pounding.

Then Cinna came over with her bouquet from the President, and he handed it to her. She didn't even want to look at it. She swallowed hard as she took it. He could tell she was uneasy.

"Don't worry, Katniss." he reassured her. "You look amazing, and you are about to marry the boy you love. Everything will be fine. I'll be back shortly. I'm going to go outside and wait for the carriage to arrive. I'll come get you when it's here."

Cinna left, and Katniss was standing alone in the studio. She looked down at the bouquet from the President, and it was the last straw that broke her final nerve. It was a large bouquet of perfect white roses... and yellow primroses. She felt her eyes fill up with angry tears, and her hands started shaking.

_How dare he? _She wondered. Katniss had loved when Peeta put the primroses in the wildflower bouquet because she knew it had been done out of respect and remembrance. But for President Snow to put them in? She knew that it was just his way of rubbing salt in her wound.

Now she was angry. All of her nervousness, her hurt, her anger, her irritation with this ridiculous wedding... it all bubbled up inside of her. She hated these flowers, hated the victor's crown that sat sparkling on top of her head like a shining golden halo, hated that she had to wear these high heeled shoes, and most of all hated that Prim wasn't here. She was fighting with all her strength to not cry, because she didn't want to ruin her makeup. Her whole body was trembling from the mix of emotions.

Behind her, she suddenly heard a friendly voice.

"Might I have a moment with the bride?"

She turned around, and saw Mr. Harrington, the capitol official whom she had befriended after the awkward encounter when he'd found her and Peeta in the bathroom way back at the mayor's party.

"Oh, Mr. Harrington!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Let's just say that my job here in the capitol sort of affords me an all access pass, and I wanted to see you and wish you well on your big day."

She walked over to him and hugged him.

"Just look at you, child. You look beautiful," he said softly, holding both of her hands. He noticed her lip quivering.

"You're upset." he observed. "Having some pre-wedding jitters are you?"

She nodded.

"You're not nervous about marrying Peeta, are you?" he asked.

"No, it's not that." she said. She took a deep breath. "It's everything else... it's all of this. I'm not comfortable with all this fanfare and pageantry. I'm not some princess in a fairy tale. I'm just a girl from district 12, who not long ago was living in poverty. I feel completely out of my element."

"Oh, I know that this must be a lot for you to take in, especially after the last two weeks. I'm terribly sorry about your sister, by the way." he said.

"Thank you." she replied. "Prim is a lot of the reason I'm upset right now. She should be here to share this day with me, but she isn't. I will have everyone in Panem watching me get married today, except for the one person I really _wanted_ to be here!"

She felt her hands start trembling again.

Mr. Harrington spoke to her, trying to calm her nerves.

"It's true that no one will ever be able to take your sister's place, Katniss, but if it's any consolation, all those people out there lining the streets and watching you on television, they _love_ you. You have inspired and captivated the whole nation! People look at you and Peeta and they feel _hope._ They feel that if the two of you can find true love in the most hopeless, dark place, then maybe there is a chance for them to find happiness too, even when it's against all odds. So when you step out into the square today and see all those people waving at you, remember that they are all on your side."

She smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." she said.

"You're welcome, my dear. Now tell me, who will be walking you down the aisle? You look like you could use a steadying hand while you make that long walk through the square."

"Nobody is walking me." she answered.

"Not your father?" Mr. Harrington asked.

"My father died many years ago." she told him.

"What about your mother?"

"She is here, but she is not comfortable being in the spotlight, and she is still much too upset about Prim, so she will be in the audience with Peeta's family. I don't have anyone to walk with me."

Mr. Harrington was quiet for a moment, before posing a suggestion.

"Forgive me if I'm out of line here, dear, and feel free to say no... but if you'd like, I would be honored to walk you down the aisle. At least you would have a friend to help get you through the most nerve wracking part, and hand deliver you to Peeta..."

Katniss smiled warmly at him. She may not have known him very long, but there was just something about him that she liked and trusted.

"You know, I really could use a steady arm to lean on during that long walk. I would love it if you walked me down the aisle. Thank you."

"Oh, wonderful!" he exclaimed, as he hugged her again. "I guess it's a good thing I wore my best suit today for this joyous occasion!"

Just then, Cinna appeared in the doorway and announced that the carriage was here for her.

"Well," Mr. Harrington said softly to Katniss, "I think that is your cue to go."

"Aren't you going to come in the carriage with me?" she asked.

He laughed, and answered, "Oh, no darling. Trust me, no one wants to see an old man like me. They want to see the beautiful blushing bride waving as she's on her way to marry the love of her life. You go and enjoy your ride, and remember that all those people out there are happy for you. I have my own transportation. I will be there to meet you when you arrive at the square, okay?"

"Okay." she whispered, and followed Cinna out to the carriage.

She climbed in and sat down, holding her bouquet in her lap. She wished that Peeta was here with her to calm her nerves.

"Good luck!" said Cinna, as he waved goodbye to her. "I'll see you later!"

She waved back, as the carriage started moving, and she was on her way to get married. The streets were all lined with people on both sides, hoping to catch a glimpse of her up close. They clapped and waved as she rode by, and she waved back, remembering what Mr. Harrington had told her. It was all so surreal to her, like she was in some bizarre dream.

She was glad when they finally reached the square, and she saw Mr. Harrington there waiting for her, just as he'd promised. The carriage stopped at the square, where a red carpeted runner lined the walkway all the way across the square and up the stairs to the stage. She just sat there for a moment, taking it all in. The aisle was lined with tall, clear glass vases filled with white roses and long slender branches of yellow forsythia on both sides, the whole way. There were people everywhere, lining her entire walk. Mr. Harrington reached for her hand to help her out of the carriage, and she was suddenly very grateful that he had offered to walk her down the aisle. She would have found this _incredibly _intimidating if she'd had to do it alone.

She stepped down out of the carriage, and heard the crowd applaud loudly at her debut. She saw herself on the huge television screens above the stage. She looked down at herself and noticed that Cinna was right about her dress... now that she was out in the afternoon sunlight, the fabric of her dress caught all the light and seemed to glow and shimmer very softly. The hem of her skirt fluttered lightly with the breeze.

"Are you ready, my dear?" Mr. Harrington asked her.

She nodded to him, as she held onto his arm, ready to make the long walk to Peeta.

She heard the music start, and she started walking. She was so nervous with all these people watching. She felt wobbly in these high heeled shoes, and was afraid that she might trip on her long dress. She kept looking down at her feet to watch where she was walking.

As they got a little closer to the stage, she felt Mr. Harrington place a finger under her chin to lift it up, and he whispered to her.

"Don't look down at your feet, darling. Look up! There he is, your future."

She looked up towards the stage, and saw Peeta standing there, with Gale at his side. He had on a perfectly fitted black tuxedo, with a dark gray vest and tie, and Gale was dressed similarly. They both wore their victor's crowns on their heads. Peeta's blond hair was combed back neatly off his forehead, and he stood with his hands clasped in front of him. Katniss caught her breath... she thought Peeta looked incredibly handsome and sexy all dressed up like this.

A huge, bright smile appeared on her face as she looked at him, and she felt all her nervousness dissipate and fade away, just like fog lifting after the sun comes out.

Peeta was beaming at her, with his eyes misty. He was a little surprised to see her on Mr. Harrington's arm, but he was grateful that she had someone to walk her down the aisle. He thought that she looked beautiful and angelic, especially with the way the crown sat on top of her head like a halo, with the long veil trailing behind it. Her dress was gorgeous, and it looked very much like the way he had pictured her when she had described her wedding vision to him. The top of her dress fit snugly and hugged all her womanly curves perfectly. The bottom of her dress fluttered with every step she took forward, and her train fanned out gracefully behind her.

Katniss saw Peeta mouth one word to her... "_Wow."_

She wanted to run to him. She quickened her step a little so she could get there faster.

Mr. Harrington chuckled, gently holding her back. "Slow down, dear! Let him look at you. This is the moment he will remember for the next fifty years, like it was yesterday. Trust me, I know."

She looked over at this kind man by her side and smiled at him, then she returned her gaze to Peeta. She never took her eyes off of him the rest of the way.

She carefully walked up the stairs to the stage, and then Mr. Harrington softly kissed her cheek before handing her over to Peeta.

She noticed that off to her side, where Prim should have been standing next to her, the President had placed an empty chair, with a small bouquet of yellow primroses lying on the seat. Katniss was angry, knowing that he had done this purposely to try and break her, hoping that she would fall apart right here in front of everyone, but she refused to give him the satisfaction. She knew that Prim would want her to be strong, so she just focused on Peeta and ignored the flowers.

She stood facing Peeta, both of them feeling overwhelmed with emotion.

The man officiating the ceremony was another one of the capitol officials that Katniss remembered meeting at the mayor's party, the same night she'd met Mr. Harrington. She couldn't remember his name, but she remembered that he was also a Justice of the Peace and that he had mentioned how he performed many weddings in the capitol.

"Dearly beloved," he began, "Friends and family, ladies and gentlemen all across the nation of Panem, we are gathered together today on this joyful occasion to witness the union of this man, Peeta Mellark, and this woman, Katniss Everdeen, in marriage, as they begin their lives together."

The crowd applauded and cheered for the couple. They looked out over the crowd and smiled. When the audience finally quieted down, the officiant continued.

"We have all come to know this remarkable young couple over the past year. We watched as their love took root and grew in a place it didn't belong, like a delicate flower coming up through a crack in the pavement of a busy city street. Yet that love persevered and flourished. This young man and woman who stand before us today have endured more trials and tests than many of us are ever subjected to in our lifetimes. But rather than tearing them apart, these challenges have only made them stronger, and they have forged a solid partnership that will prepare them for the rest of their lives together. They have become an inspiration to all of us, a symbol of shining hope, proof positive that true love conquers all."

He paused for a moment, and the crowd sat silently in rapt attention.

"Peeta, Katniss..." he continued, "I ask you now to join hands please."

Katniss set down her bouquet on the chair behind her, next to Prim's bouquet of yellow flowers, then she reached out and Peeta took both of her hands in his.

The officiant spoke to Peeta first.

"Peeta, do you enter into this union of your own free will, with the intention to take Katniss as your wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life?"

"I do." Peeta replied.

"Katniss, do you enter into this union of your own free will, with the intention to take Peeta as your husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life?"

"I do." Katniss answered, gazing into Peeta's blue eyes.

"I understand that both of you have written your own vows to say to each other, so you may go ahead and say them now, and then seal your union with the exchanging of your wedding rings. Peeta, you may go first." the justice of the peace instructed.

Peeta gazed at Katniss with tears in his eyes, still holding both of her hands.

"Katniss," Peeta began, "I read somewhere once that you know when you've found your soul mate when the thought of spending only one lifetime together is simply not long enough. In just the short time that we have been together, we have experienced joy and happiness, but also pain and heartbreak. Yet through it all, our love for each other has only grown stronger. I could spend a thousand lifetimes with you, and when we finally reached the end, I would still be praying for one more day to love you. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you when we were children that you would be the love of my life, and I promise that I will love you for every day of eternity. Today, our wedding day, is not the culmination of our love story... it is only the beginning."

Katniss swore that she could hear every person in Panem sigh, as Peeta finished his vows.

She felt like her heart was so full of love that it was overflowing, as the joyful tears that had welled up in her eyes finally spilled over. He had such a wonderful way with words. She just hoped that her vows would come out sounding halfway as good as his.

Peeta turned and held out one hand to Gale, and Gale placed in his palm her dainty silver wedding band.

He took her left hand, and said to her, "Katniss Everdeen, with this ring I take you to be my wife, and I pledge my life to you."

He placed the silver band onto her finger and slid it up next her ruby engagement ring.

Now it was her turn. She held both his hands again.

"Peeta," she said, "You may remember how upset I was the night you first announced to the world that you loved me in front of everyone, when you spoke those five little words..._'she came here with me'._"

Katniss paused as a moment of quiet laughter came from the audience. Peeta grinned at her.

She continued, "But once I got over the shock, and really _saw_ you for the first time... saw what a wonderful, kind, selfless, amazing person you are, and began to see how much you cared about me, I couldn't help falling in love with you too. It was like we were always meant to be... you just saw it before I did. And now, I have come to love you so deeply, that I don't know how I ever lived or breathed without you. So today, as we become husband and wife, partners traveling through this lifetime together, this is my wish for you. I hope that one day, many, many years from now, when we are old and gray and we are cherishing our very last moments on this earth together, I hope that you will be able to look back over your lifetime and say that every single day that you lived, every step you took, and every breath that you breathed, was filled with more love than you ever thought possible, because every step of the way, _she came here with me."_

Another sigh swept across the crowd, and she saw a single tear fall down Peeta's face. He gave her hands a soft squeeze.

Then she released her right hand and held it out to Gale, who handed her Peeta's wedding band.

She met Gale's eyes for a fleeting moment and was grateful that he seemed to be holding up okay through all of this. She knew that he was trying with all his heart- his broken heart- to be happy for her on this day.

She turned back to Peeta, taking his left hand, and said to him, "Peeta Mellark, with this ring I take you to be my husband, and I pledge my life to you."

Then she slid the ring onto his finger.

They joined hands again, as the officiant spoke.

"Peeta and Katniss, you have said your vows, and you have exchanged rings pledging your lives to one another. With the power vested in me by the capitol of Panem, it is my distinct honor to pronounce you husband and wife!"

The two of them beamed at each other, overcome with joy.

"Peeta," the officiant said happily, "you may now kiss your bride!"

Peeta held onto her waist with both hands, leaned in, and kissed her. At first it was a soft, gentle kiss... then she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him in for another kiss.

The audience started clapping for the happy couple.

Then Peeta pulled her body tight against his, and he tilted his head a little to the side, kissing her again, this time more deeply, causing his crown to fall off his head and hit the floor with a loud clang. He hardly even noticed, he was so lost in the moment, kissing his bride.

The crowd went absolutely wild, cheering and whistling for their passionate kiss.

The crowd's loud reaction caused them to start laughing, breaking their romantic first kiss as husband and wife.

The officiant presented them to the spectators below.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Peeta and Katniss Mellark!"

Katniss reached backwards for her bouquet, then held it high in the air in celebration, as she held Peeta's hand and smiled from ear to ear.

Peeta leaned down for a moment to pick up his crown, then stood up, put it back on his head, and led Katniss down the stairs to walk back down the aisle to the carriage that waited for them to bring them to the reception. All the way back down the aisle, the guests clapped and cheered and congratulated them.

The President's mansion was only a very short walk away, so Gale, Mr. Harrington, and all the other invited guests simply walked to the reception, but Peeta and Katniss were put into the carriage for a celebratory ride around the streets before being brought to the reception. They sat cuddled close together in the carriage, holding hands, smiling and waving to all the spectators, and frequently obliging the requests being shouted from the crowd- "Kiss! Kiss!"

Peeta turned to Katniss and took her face in his hands.

"You look amazingly, stunningly, breathtakingly beautiful today." he told her.

"And you look unbelievably, strikingly handsome and sexy and _hot." _she said back to him, grinning. "Can you believe we really did it? We're really married!" she exclaimed.

"I love it!" he said. "I am so happy right now, words can't even begin to describe it."

He pulled her face to his and kissed her deeply, eliciting a huge cheer from the people lining the street as they drove by.

"I will be happy to have you all alone tonight, and away from all this madness though!" Peeta added, gesturing to the crowds around them.

"Me too!" Katniss agreed. "I am very much looking forward to a wonderful night with my husband!"

Shortly after that, they arrived at the President's mansion, and Peeta helped Katniss out of the carriage. They walked in, and their arrival was announced, bringing a round of applause from the party guests.

As Katniss and Peeta entered their own reception, they looked all around, and were awestruck at the splendor of the Presidential ballroom. Katniss gasped.

"Oh my gosh, Peeta, look how pretty!"

The tall vases of white roses and yellow forsythia that had been lining the aisle out in the capitol square now served as tall centerpieces on the tables. The linens on the tables were crisp white, and each table had several little white votive candles flickering soft candlelight. The dishes set out at each place setting were fine white china rimmed with silver, and there were crystal goblets next to each plate.

Overhead there were huge crystal chandeliers, with the lights turned down low for soft lighting.

Shortly after their arrival, they were brought to the dance floor to share their first dance as husband and wife. Peeta reached out for his bride's hand, and twirled her around once as they entered the dance floor, showing off her stunning dress to all their guests, before he gracefully pulled her in, wrapped one arm around her waist, and held her hand with the other. They danced close together, heart to heart, and Katniss rested her head on Peeta's shoulder with her eyes closed, never wanting this moment to end. They finished their first dance with a kiss, and all the guests clapped.

A huge buffet dinner was served, but the happy couple was so busy making their way around the room and talking to the guests, that they hardly took the time to sit down and eat anything. There were many people they knew at the reception- Peeta's family, Katniss' mother, Gale's family who had been in the capitol for Gale's crowning yesterday, Effie, Haymitch, Madge, and quite a few that they had met in passing at the mayor's party. Then there were also a lot of guests who they didn't know, but they were there because they were high ranking officials.

Later in the night, while Peeta was talking to his parents, Katniss felt a familiar hand on the bare skin of her upper back.

"Any chance the bride might have time for a dance with an old friend?" Gale asked.

"Of course." she replied with a warm smile. She took his hand and led him to the dance floor. Gale pulled her into his arms, and held her close. He slowly twirled her around as they danced, and her dress billowed out behind her. In his heart, Gale wished that she was dancing with him as _his_ bride.

"You look so beautiful tonight, Katniss." he told her.

"Thank you. Cinna did an amazing job on this dress."

"It's more than just the dress though. It's _you._ Your whole face is glowing, radiant. Being in love really becomes you."

"Thank you Gale." she said very softly. "You have no idea how much it means to me that you were here by my side to share this day with me. I'm sure it wasn't easy for you." She hugged him a little closer as they continued dancing.

"No," he admitted. "it wasn't easy. But you're my best friend, and I would do anything for you."

"And you are the best friend I could ever have." Katniss said sweetly. Then she leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "I love you Gale Hawthorne. When you start dating all those girls that Caesar said will be lining up for you, they're going to have to prove to me that they are good enough to deserve you."

Gale laughed and shook his head at her.

"I'll be sure to warn them ahead of time." Gale teased, and they both broke into laughter.

For the rest of the song, they danced in comfortable silence, and when the music ended, Gale brought her hand to his mouth and lightly kissed the top of her hand.

"Thank you for the dance, I enjoyed it." Gale said.

"You're welcome. I enjoyed it too." she replied.

They hugged one last time, then Gale let go of her, and he watched her as she turned away and started walking back across the room towards Peeta.

But before she could get to him, she was intercepted by another man asking for a dance with the bride.

It was President Snow.

She knew she really didn't have any choice, so she accepted his request for a dance.

"Well, Katniss, congratulations on your marriage. You must be very happy right now." he said.

"Yes, I am, thank you." she answered. She was trying to be strong, but her voice ended up coming out sounding weak and strained. She remembered how Peeta had warned her earlier to not defy the President, so she had to be careful how she answered him. This was _definitely_ not the the time for her usual smartass mouth.

She felt trapped, being in his arms for the dance, and she was repulsed by the very touch of his hand holding hers. She could feel the tension in her body from her nerves. Just five minutes ago, dancing with Gale, her body had felt warm and relaxed and even a little graceful, but right now she felt stiff and her spine felt rigid.

"I can only imagine that you are missing your sister very much on this special day." he said.

She wanted to say, _I wouldn't be missing her if you hadn't reaped her and gotten her killed!_

But she knew better.

"Yes, I do miss her, but I meant to thank you for the lovely primroses." Katniss wanted to choke on her words right now, but she had to play nice if she wanted to keep herself and Peeta out of danger.

"You're welcome. It was my pleasure."

_I'm sure it was, _she thought sourly to herself.

"And how is Gale holding up? I know he's had a difficult week as well."

"It's been hard for him. He misses Prim too. But Gale is strong. He'll be okay, once we get back to our family."

"Of course." Snow said condescendingly. "Of course he will."

Mercifully, the song ended and President Snow released her from his grip.

"Well, thank you for the dance, and I hope you're enjoying your evening." he said to her.

"It's been a lovely evening, thank you for everything." Katniss forced herself to be gracious to her host, before hurrying back to Peeta.

She was never so happy as when he swept her into his arms again.

"Well, well, there's my very popular wife! How was your dance with the President?" he asked her.

"Uncomfortable, though it could have been worse. I think he was just trying to rattle me. But I feel better already, now that I'm back with you."

Peeta smiled at her as he held her tightly.

"It's getting late...would you like to head back to our hotel soon and begin the rest of our night?"

"Yes." Kantiss replied enthusiastically. "I would love to get out of here and finally be alone with you!"

"I'm glad to hear it, because I've got _plans_ for you, my love." he told her.

Katniss felt a shiver of excitement and anticipation run down her spine.

They quickly walked around and said goodbye to as many of the guests as they could. Before they left the reception, Katniss gathered all the single girls in the front of the ballroom and tossed her bouquet over her shoulder. She didn't notice who caught it, and she couldn't care less if she ever saw that bouquet again. She just wanted to leave here.

They waved goodbye, and exited out the grand double doors that led out towards the square, where the carriage was waiting to bring them back to the hotel.

Peeta reached out his hand to help her down the marble stairs in front of the building.

"Come, Mrs. Mellark." he said.

"Oh, I _plan on it_." she replied sarcastically.

He turned towards her, and pulled his wife's body tight against him in the darkness of the night.

"God, I love that smartass mouth of yours..." he told her in a seductive voice, then he brought his mouth to hers and kissed her ravenously, exploring her naughty mouth with his tongue. When he finally broke the kiss and pulled his mouth away, she had only one more thing to say.

"You'll be loving it a whole lot more if you hurry up and take me home." she whispered.

He couldn't get her back to their suite fast enough.


	31. Chapter 31

"Will we be spending our wedding night in your suite or mine, Mr. Mellark?" Katniss asked, smiling broadly at her new husband, when they reached the hotel.

"My suite, Mrs. Mellark." he replied. "But you'll need to close your eyes for a moment. I've got a surprise inside for you."

She closed her eyes with excited curiosity.

"But first, tradition says that I must carry you over the threshold for good luck, so I'm going to pick you up now." he told her.

"Okay!" she said, giggling. "We wouldn't want to break tradition!"

She heard him open the door, and then felt him wrap her arm around the back of his neck, and he placed one of his arms around her back and the other behind her knees, and he swept her off her feet into his arms.

She giggled again as he carried her into his suite, and once inside, he carefully set her down again and shut the door behind them.

He held her hand, and whispered into her ear, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

She opened her eyes and gasped. The whole suite was filled with flickering votive candles everywhere. It seemed like every flat surface in the room- every shelf, dresser, nightstand, table- held little white candles in clear glass cups, bathing the entire suite in a warm, romantic glow, and casting dancing light patterns on the walls and ceiling.

"Oh, Peeta, it's _beautiful!"_ she breathed. "You did this?"

"Well, I _arranged_ it." he explained. "The staff here are _very_ accommodating of special requests for newlyweds!" he told her with a sweet smile.

"I love it! And I love _you."_ she whispered, leaning in and kissing him.

"Come with me, there's something else I want to show you." he said, pulling her by the hand.

He led her over to the big picture window and they stood together and looked out over the capitol below, where the city lights were glittering brightly in the dark night.

Peeta started telling Katniss, "Sometimes when I see all those lights out there in the city, I look at them and try to imagine that I'm home... like when we sit outdoors in the summer nights and watch all the fireflies twinkling in the woods behind your house. Doesn't it make you wish we were home right now?"

"Oh, yes, it does make me miss home! I would love to be sitting in the quiet night and watching the fireflies with you..." she said longingly.

"Well, _pretend _we're there tonight, for our first married night. Forget that we're in the capitol. Just imagine that we're home, and out there is nothing but woods and all those lights are just little fireflies blinking all around us."

They stood there quietly for a minute holding hands, both imagining that they were home, and back to their familiar surroundings.

She felt Peeta tug on her hand, beckoning for her to follow him. He led her away from the window, and all the way across his suite, to just outside the bathroom door.

"Kick off those fancy shoes of yours." he told her. She took them off, relieved to have her feet out of the high heels, and slid them aside with one foot.

"May I take your veil out of your hair?'" he asked.

"Yes, please do." she replied.

He turned her around so she was facing away from him now. He stood behind her and gently pulled out the comb that anchored her long veil, and he set it aside on a chair.

"Let's get rid of that crown too." Peeta said, as he removed the pins that were holding the crown in place, and then took off the crown and set it on the chair where he'd just placed her veil.

"I'm going to take your hair down, too, okay?" he asked her.

"Of course." she whispered. The suspense of what he was doing was killing her. Was he going to undress her, one piece at a time? And she wondered why he was doing this here, by the bathroom...

M_aybe he wants to take a bath together, like we did the other night? _she wondered.

She didn't care if Peeta undressed her in the middle of the kitchen... she was just so happy to be alone with the love of her life.

She felt Peeta's hands in her hair, pulling out all the bobby pins that were holding the curls piled up on top of her head, and then he gently ran his fingers through her hair until it was all falling down loosely around her shoulders.

"Turn around, my love." he told her softly.

She turned around and faced him. He admired her, and smoothed out some wavy curls of her dark hair that cascaded down her shoulder.

"Mmmm, beautiful. Much better. _Almost _perfect..." he said, with a twinkle in his eye. "Just one thing missing..."

Peeta disappeared into the bathroom for a second, and then returned to her side, holding her wildflower bouquet that he had hidden there for this moment.

"You're going to need this." he said, handing her the bouquet. Then he reached into her bouquet and plucked out a small white daisy and a little sprig of lily of the valley, and tucked it into her hair behind her ear.

He took a step back and looked her up and down.

"_Now_ you look like my bride. _Perfect._" he said, with a warm smile and misty eyes.

He waited and watched her face for all the pieces to come together in her mind, and then suddenly, it all made sense to her, what he had been doing.

"_Imagine we are home and the lights are fireflies behind your house on a summer night... candles all around us...my hair is down, loose in soft waves with little white flowers tucked here and there... I'm carrying a bouquet of colorful wildflowers... you laugh when you see that I am in my bare feet walking to you..."_

Peeta was recreating her vision of her dream wedding.

She brought her hand to her mouth, and burst into joyful tears.

"Oh, Peeta! Our wedding!"

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Well, you said that we only get to have our wedding day once, and it is still technically our wedding day for a couple more hours, so it's not too late to do it _our way._ I can't make love to my beautiful wife until we've had a proper wedding." Peeta said to her, as he twirled a curl of her hair around his finger.

"Oh my gosh, Peeta, I love you so much!" she exclaimed.

He smiled broadly at her.

"I love you too, Katniss. I would like to marry you now, the right way, the way we would have wanted it... quiet and intimate, without thousands of people watching. Are you ready?"

"Yes!" she agreed enthusiastically.

"Do I look the way you want me to?" he asked.

"Hmmm..." she thought. "Take off your jacket." she instructed.

He took off the formal tuxedo jacket and laid it on the chair.

"Let's lose the tie, too." she said, as she helped him loosen it up and then slid it off.

"What about the vest?" he asked.

"Leave that on. " she replied. "I like it... I think you look hot." She smiled at him, as she opened up the top button on his crisp white dress shirt.

"Take off your shoes and socks. I think we should both be in bare feet!"

He laughed at her and did as she asked.

Then she looked him over, and decided that she liked how he looked. A _lot_.

"That's much better. Now you look like my Peeta."

"Okay, I guess we're ready then! I'll be waiting for you over there." he said, pointing to the picture window, with all the lights glittering outside. "Walk to me slowly, so I can look at you for as long as possible. I want to remember you like this for the rest of my life."

She was so moved that Peeta had thought of this. He never failed to amaze her with the ways he came up with to make her feel loved and special.

Katniss gave him a minute to get into place by the big picture window. She peered around the corner, and when she saw him standing there waiting for her, she smiled and started slowly walking towards him.

She did as he'd instructed, and imagined that they were outside in her backyard behind her house, with the woods behind him and soft grass beneath their feet. She walked slowly, gazing at him. She was so much more comfortable like this than she had been this afternoon with the whole world watching. Tonight it was just her and him, promising each other love and partnership for the rest of their lives. This was just the way she imagined it would be when they got married.

Peeta looked back at her, feeling so happy and fulfilled. She had looked magnificent earlier today when she walked to him out in the square, but she had looked formal and regal, and she had been nervous. Now, like this, he thought she looked perfect... just the way he had envisioned her, from her loose hair and fluttery dress, down to her bare feet and her wildflower bouquet. She was beautiful, and she looked more like herself... calm and confident and blissful. As she got closer to him, he found that he couldn't tear his gaze away from her even for a second. He wished that they really were at home, in her backyard, and that he could have given her the wedding of her dreams, but at least this was the next best thing.

When she reached his side, she set down her wildflower bouquet on a side table nearby, then she held onto both of his hands. Then, for the second time today, they said the vows that they had written for each other and had recited out in the square.

As soon as they both finished their vows, Peeta said, "_Now_ I will kiss my bride."

He brought both his hands to her face, and for a couple of seconds, he just looked at her, her eyes wide with eager anticipation. Then he gently pulled her face to his and kissed her, at first softly and tenderly, then the kiss quickly warmed up to passionate and needful. He kissed her again and again, his fingers running through her hair and pulling her closer to him. Their tongues explored each others mouths, their hands were all over each other.

Suddenly they were no longer in the sweet, romantic wedding mood, but in the ardent, yearning wedding _night _mood.

It was as if all their attraction and desire for each other that had been frozen in time at the start of the Games was suddenly not only thawing and warming up, but was now getting so hot that it was ready to boil over.

Katniss stopped kissing Peeta for a moment and they both looked at each other, their faces so close together, their breath coming in short, trembling gasps. She recognized that look in his blue eyes, dark and lustful, and she knew he _wanted_ her.

She put both of her hands on his chest and slowly pushed him backwards just a step or two, until Peeta felt the cool glass of the picture window at his back. She leaned into his body, pressing him up against the glass, kissing all along his sexy, strong jawline and running her tongue along the side of his ear.

Then he felt her hands begin to unbutton his vest, and then move up to his collar to unbutton his shirt. Her hands felt shaky with her excitement and longing to touch his skin. She finally managed to get his shirt opened up and pushed it back off of his shoulders so his whole chest was exposed to her. She bit her lip as she slowly caressed her fingertips down his chest, sending shivers down his spine from her soft touch. She then held onto his waist while she brought her mouth to his neck and rained warm, wet tongue kisses all the way down his neck and down to his chest.

Peeta was dying to touch her too, yet the incredibly pleasurable sensation of her hands and mouth on his body made him feel like he couldn't move. Finally he removed his hands from where they'd been resting on her lower back, finished taking off his shirt, tossed it aside, and slid his hands up the sides of her dress. He rested his left hand just beneath her breast, and bringing his right hand up higher to touch her skin, he softly grazed his fingers across her voluptuous looking bosom pushed up by her dress.

"I like this." he whispered to her, while he continued brushing his fingers slowly back and forth across her chest.

"Cinna said you would." she replied.

"Remind me to thank him." Peeta told her. "I could hardly keep my eyes- or my hands for that matter- off your chest all evening."

Katniss was about to make some smartass comment, but then she felt Peeta move his face down to her chest and drop his tongue into the space in her cleavage, and she completely lost her thoughts. He kissed and sucked on the warm soft swell of her flesh and she shuddered from the enjoyment of his tongue on her. He wanted so badly to free her breasts from this dress and put his mouth all over them, but he couldn't. The corseting holding up the top of her dress was so tight that he couldn't move it at all. It was driving him crazy, not being able to pull the dress down.

"God, I want to get you out of this dress _so fucking badly..._" he breathed into her ear.

"Not yet, love." she teased him. "I'm not done having my fun with _you_ just yet."

She backed away out of his grasp for a moment, then reached for the drapes on the sides of the picture window, and pulled them closed.

"Before we give the whole capitol a show..." she smiled.

Then she took Peeta's hand and led him wordlessly toward the foot of the bed. She backed him up against the bed, then stood in front of him. She wrapped her left hand around the back of his head, her fingers in his hair, and pulled him in for another kiss. He felt her tongue enter his mouth, and at the same time felt her right hand reach down and start rubbing the bulge in the front of his pants. He gasped a little with surprise and he felt the corners of her mouth turn up into a grin.

She rubbed him like that, over his pants for a minute before bringing both of her hands down to start working on unbuttoning and unzipping them. She slowly pulled them down, freeing him from both his pants and boxers. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him down, indicating that she wanted him to sit on the edge of the bed. She knelt before him and pulled his pants from around his ankles and threw them aside, then spread his knees apart and moved herself closer in to him.

He looked down at her, still in her dress, kneeling there between his legs, looking back up at him, with the skirt of her dress all piled and mounded up around her. She looked like an angel sitting in the middle of a billowy cloud... a very _naughty_ angel with luscious looking pushed up cleavage that he could look right down into now that he was above her, and he suddenly wanted to press his dick right there in the space where he'd had his tongue earlier and rub it against that delicious, warm flesh of hers.

She must have been reading his thoughts. She saw that hungry look in his eyes as he stared down at her. She wrapped her hand around his hard cock and she leaned forward, so she could rub him softly back and forth across the contours of her rounded breasts.

"Are you staring at my chest again, Peeta?" she teased him.

"How can I not? You look _so fucking hot_ right now, doing what you're doing..."

"Oh, you like that?" she asked, feigning innocence, while she stroked her hand up and down on him, right in between her cleavage, as if she didn't know that she was driving him wild with lust right now.

"You have _no idea." _he said.

"Well, maybe you'll like this too, then." she said, as she lowered herself down and began pleasuring him with her mouth.

She heard Peeta gasp, and then exhale deeply as he enjoyed the sensation of her sucking on him, and moving her tongue all around on his sensitive skin. He watched with lustful fascination as she hungrily took him in and out of her mouth, making little soft sighing noises as she did it, as if she was savoring the taste of him.

Peeta was _so _incredibly turned on by this whole scenario. She had sucked him off many times before, but this... watching her in the soft light of the flickering candles all around the room, especially when she hadn't touched him in so long, he felt like there was something so powerfully sexy and sinful about watching his beautiful wife perform this dirty act while looking so angelic and virginal in that pristine white wedding dress, still with little flowers tucked behind her ear.

He felt like he was having total sensory overload right now. The sight and the sensation of what she was doing to him, the sound of her sighs, the scent of her perfume... he wasn't going to last long at all, at this rate.

He put his hands in the back of her hair, encouraging her to continue.

"Oh, my fucking God, Katniss, that is _so good_..." he moaned to her.

She responded by sucking him harder and faster, caressing her free hand up the inside of his thigh and softly stroking her fingers over his balls. He couldn't hold back any longer.

"Oh, _fuck, _baby, _yes!_" he moaned loudly as all his muscles shuddered and he came into her mouth.

She swallowed down the hot mouthful, then heard him suck his breath in again, as she finished licking and sucking every drop off of him before pulling her mouth away.

She looked up at him and smiled.

"I hope that was worth waiting for." she purred.

"Oh, _so_ worth it..." he sighed, still catching his breath.

She slid her hands up his thighs, and then up to his waist, where she let her hands rest, still gazing up at him.

After a few moments like that, he took both of her hands in his so he could help her up off of her knees.

"Stand up with me." he whispered. "Turn around. I need to get this dress off you."

She obediently turned her back towards him.

The first thing he did was sweep her long hair off to one side and kiss the back of her neck, very lightly, several times. He knew that she was very sensitive there and that his kisses would send chills down every nerve in her body.

Then he set to work loosening all the laces of the corset on her dress.

"Remind me _not_ to thank Cinna for this one." Peeta said to her. "This corseting down your back does look hot, but it's not fair. You had me undressed in five minutes, and it's going to take me an hour to get you out of this!"

She giggled. "It won't take you an hour. Besides, good things are worth waiting for, right?"

"That's true, love, but I am running out of patience." he said into her ear with a smile. "He couldn't have just put in a zipper for easier access?"

He kept working at the laces, loosening them up one by one, but his hands were trembling with his eagerness, and it wasn't helping that she kept distracting him by reaching back and running her hands over his body.

"Stop distracting me." he said, grinning.

"I can't help it," she said, turning her head to look over her shoulder at him. "I just can't keep my hands off of you."

"Well, I can't concentrate on what I'm doing when you're constantly touching me!" he laughed.

She was good and stood still for a minute, but then he felt her hand reach back again and slide down his abs towards his groin.

He shook his head at what a naughty girl she could be sometimes. If he hadn't been so intent on getting this dress off of her body, he would have bent her over towards the bed, lifted her dress and spanked her bare ass for teasing him like that. Just the thought of doing it excited him. But he was determined to get her undressed before he did anything else.

Finally he got the dress loosened up enough that he could gather it all up in his hands and lift it up over her head. Once it was off, he tossed it aside.

She stood there, still with her back to him, but now wearing nothing but a sexy pair of white satin and lace panties.

He reached both his hands up to her shoulders, then softly traced his fingers all the way down the soft skin of her back, until he reached her waist. He stepped in closer to her, so that his body was pressed up against her backside, and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. He hugged her close, kissed the side of her neck, then whispered in her ear.

"_Eighteen days."_ he said softly. "I haven't pleasured you or made love to you in eighteen days, and I am _so _excited to do it now. It feels like the first time all over again."

"If I recall," she said, "our first time started just like this, with you standing behind me as you are now. And then I did this..."

She took his hands that were around her waist and moved them up to cup her breasts.

He inhaled deeply with the enjoyment of having her breasts in his hands, feeling her nipples hardening as he moved his fingers over them.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I remember it starting." he said. "Only one difference..."

"What's that?" she asked.

He turned her around so now they were face to face, and looked at her with smoldering eyes.

"This time I know what I'm doing. And I know what you like."

"I like everything you do." she said.

"Good thing, because you've got a long night ahead of you, my love."

Peeta slowly knelt down in front of her. He hooked his fingers in the sides of her panties and pulled them down. He noticed that she'd gotten a nice bikini wax while she was being worked on by Venia.

"Very nice..." he commented.

She just smirked at him.

He helped her step out of her panties, then he just admired her naked body for a moment. Katniss softly ran her fingers through his blond hair as she looked down at him.

He slid his right hand up the inside of her leg, starting down at her knee and inching all the way up, then he brought one finger up between her legs, starting at her entrance and slowly slid it forward through her sensitive, damp flesh, watching her shiver as he did it.

He stood up in front of her.

"Lie down on the bed on your back." he told her.

She did as he asked. She got up onto the bed, slid herself backwards and reclined back onto the pillows.

Katniss watched curiously as Peeta walked over to the ice bucket on the counter in their small kitchen area and brought an ice cube back to bed with him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Something I've always wanted to do to you." he answered with a naughty grin on his face.

He crawled up the bed and lay alongside her, holding the ice cube in his fingers.

"Close your eyes." he whispered.

She felt Peeta slide the ice across her bottom lip, and then he kissed her to warm her back up.

He slid the ice down her chin and down the front of her neck, and the warmth of her skin made the ice melt little rivers that pooled in the indentation at the base of her throat. Then she felt his warm tongue drop into that little pool of water and he sucked the cold water off of her.

She gasped and sighed in reaction.

Next she felt him glide the ice down the center of her cleavage, then he moved it to her breast and circled the ice around her nipple and he watched as it hardened under the coldness of the ice, before bringing his mouth down onto it to warm it up again. The sudden, drastic change in temperature from the cold ice to his warm mouth on her sensitive skin made her shiver.

He traced the melting ice slowly down her abdomen all the way to her navel, and she squealed a little at how cold it felt on her stomach. He then brought his tongue down to her belly and followed the same trail of wetness that the ice had left, warming her where her skin had just felt so chilled, and he sucked up the small amount of water that had pooled in her navel.

Peeta slid himself further down the bed, then Katniss felt him put his hands on her knees and parted her legs, spreading them wide. He slid the ice cube down the inside of one thigh, watching her anticipation build as he inched closer to where he was heading. Finally he reached her center, gently rubbing the ice cube against her and letting the warmth of her body melt it into droplets that ran down towards the bed. He could hear her breathing getting faster with excitement.

When he felt she'd had enough of the cold, he brought his mouth down, pressed his tongue to her entrance, and slowly slid it up forward through her folds, lapping up all the water, then he lingered over her most sensitive spot, licking and circling her flesh with his tongue. His tongue felt _so hot_ on her, after the numbing cold of the ice.

She let out a soft whimper of enjoyment, and he felt her body shudder from what he was doing.

He paused for a second and looked up at her.

"Would you like more of that?" he teased her.

"_Yes...more... please!" _she begged.

Peeta took what little remained of the ice cube and held it in his mouth, letting it melt on his tongue, so that when he returned his tongue to her to pleasure her some more, it felt very cold, and it took a minute before his tongue felt warm on her again . Soon he had her moaning, moving her hips, meeting the motions of his tongue, sighing and raking her fingers through the back of his hair.

He slid a finger inside of her, and was _so _turned on by how aroused she was.

"God, Katniss feel how wet you are for me. I _can't wait _to fuck you." he said in a hoarse whisper.

"Then come up here and fuck me now!" she panted.

"Whatever you want, baby." he answered, as he moved up her body until he was above her, and then slid himself inside.

"Ohh, that is _exactly _what I want..." she sighed, as she held onto his hips and pulled him deeper into her. "God, Peeta, you feel _so good."_

She held him close as he made love to her and kissed the side of her neck.

"Oh, I have missed this _so_ much." he said into her ear.

"Me too." she agreed, wrapping her legs up around his waist, crossing her ankles behind his back so she could feel him even deeper. She was already so warmed up from what he'd done with his mouth, that his movements deep within her were pushing her rapidly over the edge.

He felt her body tensing up around him, getting ready for the intense release. He thrust himself a little harder into her to help her along, then she moaned loudly as she reveled in the amazing orgasm he gave her.

He smiled at her, pleased that she was feeling so good. And she was feeling _very _good indeed. So good that she didn't come all the way down after her release... she was still excited.

"Let me get on top, Peeta." she panted. "I'm not done yet!"

He was more than happy to oblige her.

She unwrapped her legs from around his waist and he rolled her over so now she was on top, looking down at him with that fiery need in her eyes, like she just wanted to fuck him senseless. He loved when she took control like this. She reached up and grabbed onto the headboard of the bed with both hands for leverage. He felt the surge of hormones flood through his body as he let her have her way with him, riding his body, fucking him hard. He held on to her hips, thoroughly enjoying watching his wife enjoy their long overdue intimacy so much. He felt their pleasure escalating together as they moved and breathed faster.

"Come on, Katniss, come for me again. I can tell you're close." he said breathlessly.

It engulfed her body suddenly, making her shudder and moan with her powerful waves of release, this one even better than the last, and this time Peeta came right along with her. She let go of the headboard and he pulled her close against him to hold her tight, their bodies feeling sated and exhausted and damp with sweat.

Katniss rested there like that on top of Peeta's body for several minutes, with her head on his shoulder and her face against the side of his neck, until their pulses came back down to normal again.

Finally she lifted her head and propped herself up on her elbow so she could look at him.

"Wow, married sex is _really good_." she said, smiling at him.

"Yeah, now I'm _glad _the president made us get married so soon!" he laughed. "I think I could get used to this, couldn't you?"

"Oh, _definitely. _I _love _being married to you._" _she agreed, as she finally separated herself from him, then lay down next to him and curled up into his warmth as he spooned himself around her body.

He kissed the side of her face, then pulled the blankets up over the two of them.

"Let's take a little nap, baby. Rest up...the night is young yet." he said quietly.

She smiled at the thought, then they both drifted off to sleep for a while.

She woke up a few hours later to the sensation of Peeta kissing down the side of her neck and shoulder, and his hand caressing softly over her chest.

"Awake already?" she asked, yawning.

"Can't help it." he said, smiling. "I can't even stay asleep, I'm enjoying this night with you so much. I don't want to miss a moment of it."

She turned over a bit so she could look back at him. She noticed that some of the candles in the room had burned themselves out, and were now just puddles of melted wax in the bottom of the little glass cups, but a few still remained, flickering dim light in the room. She looked up at him, smiling back at her in the shadowy remains of the candlelight.

"Well then, let's not waste another second." she whispered. She reached one hand up behind his head and pulled his face down to kiss her. While his mouth was busy kissing her, she felt his hand move from her breast and slide slowly down her body until he was between her legs, softly rubbing her with his fingers to get her warmed up again.

She could feel his excitement, pressed up against her backside.

"So, how do you want me this time?" he asked her softly in her ear.

"Just like this." she answered. "I want you to make love to me just the way we are now... slow and gentle this time."

She draped her upper leg backwards over his hip to allow him access. He moved himself a little closer and pulled her hips backwards towards his body, then slid himself inside of her. They hadn't ever tried this position before, and now he wondered why not, since they slept this way all the time. He found that he really liked it, because it gave him such wonderful access to pleasure her body. He could still touch her everywhere... he could cup her breast in his hand, he could hold on tight to her waist if he wanted to, and he could keep pleasuring her, stroking her wet flesh between her legs with his fingers, heightening her enjoyment, all while making love to her.

This time, instead of the hard, lustful fucking that she'd wanted earlier, she wanted to feel every movement, every touch of his hands on her body. Peeta gave her exactly what she wanted. He moved slowly, deliberately...making her ache for more, gradually increasing the sensation pulsing through all the nerves in her body from a slow burn to a raging fire. It wasn't long before he had her sighing and whimpering with anticipation.

"Oh, Peeta, please don't stop!" she pleaded. "I'm _so close..."_

"Mmm, me too, baby. You feel _so good. _Come with me." he moaned softly.

He stroked her a little faster with his fingers, while he moved in and out of her, and that was all it took. He felt her inner walls tighten and quiver around him, reaching her climax as she moaned his name-

"_Peeta! Oh, yes, Peeta!"_

Then he let go too... _"Oh God yes, Katniss! Mmmm!" _and he felt the powerful spasm as he groaned loudly and he came inside of her.

"Peeta, that was fucking amazing..." she sighed.

"Oh, it _sure was_." he agreed.

"I love you so much, Peeta. I want to love you like this forever." she said to him.

"Me too...You make me happier than I ever imagined I could be." he breathed in her ear.

They stayed laying together, spooned snugly like that, until their eyes grew heavy again and they surrendered to peaceful sleep, just as the last candle still burning on the nightstand flickered out and went dark, leaving them to their blissful dreams of each other.


	32. Chapter 32

Katniss and Peeta weren't the only ones just drifting off to sleep in the hotel.

Poor Gale had been up for a long time after the wedding reception, just thinking about things. He kept thinking back to the dance he had shared with Katniss tonight... how she had looked so beautiful in her wedding dress, how warm and soft the bare skin of her upper back had felt under his hand when he held her close. He wished that it had been _their _wedding. He had always just sort of assumed that they would end up together, but then Peeta came along, and he missed his chance at that future.

_Oh well, too late now. _Gale thought to himself, as he sighed and turned over, feeling very alone in his bed.

He closed his eyes and remembered the other night... how wonderful it had felt to fall asleep spooned up close to Katniss, his body wrapped around hers, her hand holding his, pressed up against her chest. He thought about the next morning, when he had woken up to her snuggled against him, her leg draped over his in an intimate embrace. It had been the best morning of his life...he would have given _anything t_o be able to share a bed with her like that all the time.

It was the moments like these, usually when he was lying in bed and feeling lonely, that he most envied Peeta. Right now he was feeling especially envious, because he figured that it was a pretty safe bet that Peeta was probably doing what Gale wished that _he_ was doing... making love with Katniss and then falling asleep with her in his arms.

Gale drifted off to sleep with all these thoughts in his head, and they carried over to his unconscious mind.

He dreamed about their dance at the reception, but this time it was _their_ wedding, and she was _his_ wife. During the dance, he kissed her lips, he kissed her neck. She looked up at him with happy, sparkling eyes... the familiar eyes of his best friend, those gray eyes that looked so much like his own.

Then he brought her back to his room and took that pretty dress off of her, traced his fingers down her womanly curves... she undressed him and ran her hands all over his muscular physique, both of them delighting in their exploration of each others bodies.

In his dream, just as in real life, they had never been intimate together before, and now, their wedding night would be their first time.

"You are so beautiful, Mrs. Hawthorne." he breathed in her ear. "I love you and I want you _so much_."

"Take me to bed, Gale." Katniss told him.

Gale picked her up, carried her across the bedroom to his bed, and he lay her down with her head on the pillows. He got up on the bed with her and positioned himself above her. He felt her arms wrap around his back, pulling him closer.

He slowly moved himself inside of her, and began to make love to her. She felt so good all around him, as they moved together as one. Gale moaned softly with his enjoyment of finally being intimate with the only girl he'd ever truly loved.

"I always knew we would end up like this." Gale said softly into her ear. "I always knew I would marry my best friend."

He put one hand on the side of her face, and gazed into her eyes.

She looked up at him and said, "Once I began to see how much you cared about me, I couldn't help falling in love with you too."

Gale felt so happy that she _finally _understood how much he loved her, and that she felt the same way.

Katniss continued speaking softly to him as he made love to her. "It was like we were always meant to be, you just saw it before I did..."

She was speaking these beautiful words...words he should _want_ to hear, but something about it wasn't right...something about those words sounded _familiar_ to Gale. He searched his head, trying to put his finger on exactly what it was.

Then, suddenly, it struck him like lightning, and his heart broke with the devastating realization.

The words she said to him were the same words she had said in her wedding vows to Peeta.

Even in his dream, Katniss was looking up at Gale with soft, loving eyes, but she was talking about Peeta. Not even in his own fantasy could he escape the fact that for as much as Katniss cared about him, she would never look at him the same way she looked at Peeta.

Gale woke up in the quiet darkness of his room, disappointed once again. He had been enjoying the dream up until the end. He got up out of bed, walked over to the window and stood there with both hands on the sides of the window frame wearing nothing but his boxers, his tall, hunter's body bathed in pale moonlight. He looked out over the expanse of the capitol below. He wondered...of all the millions of people out there, why did he have to be in love with the one person he couldn't have?

Gale ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He was going to have to make some decisions about things today or he was going to end up driving himself crazy. He expected that he would probably see Katniss at some point today, but not right away. She'd most likely want to sleep in after what he could only assume had been a late wedding night. Gale yawned, realizing that he needed to sleep too, so he returned to his bed, pulled up the covers and drifted off. Fortunately, the rest of his night was dreamless.

Later that morning after the sun had been up for a while, in the marriage bed, Peeta woke up alone too. When he reached for Katniss and found that she wasn't there, he sat up quickly. She hardly ever got out of bed before he did, and he especially wouldn't have expected it on the morning after their wedding, so it made him worry.

When he looked around the room, he saw her sitting in a chair in front of the window in her bathrobe with her knees pulled up in front of her, looking outside, and she was holding her wildflower bouquet.

Peeta found his boxers on the floor from last night, pulled them on and walked over to the window, kneeling down next to her.

"Katniss, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, smiling softly at him and leaning over to give him a kiss. "I'm sorry if I worried you. I was just awake, and I didn't want to wake you. You looked so peaceful."

He took her hand and squeezed it, thankful that nothing was wrong.

"You looked deep in thought." Peeta observed. "What were you thinking about?"

"Home." she answered wistfully. "I was thinking that it was funny, how last night we could look out this window in the dark and we could imagine that we were home... that out there was nothing but woods and fireflies, and when you described it to me and told me to imagine it, I could _see_ it Peeta, I could really _see_ it, like we were back home. But then in the light of day, I look out this same window, and it's gone. We are still here in the capitol and we are so far from district 12, and I just want to _go home _with you. Can we _please _go home today?"

"Of course." he told her. "I would love to bring you home today, and just start our nice, quiet life together."

She smiled at him and leaned her head on his shoulder. They sat in comfortable silence like that for a minute.

Finally Katniss broke their silence, as she touched some of the flowers in the bouquet on her lap, and said, "My flowers are starting to wilt. I wish I could take them home with us and save them forever, but by the time we get home, they'll all be dead."

"That's okay." Peeta replied. "You'll have plenty of wildflowers back home that you can pick whenever you want to."

She pulled a limp, wilted yellow primrose out of her bouquet and held it in her hand.

"It feels weird, knowing that it will just be you and me and Gale going home, and not Prim." she said quietly.

"Come here." Peeta said gently to her, as he stood up, took the flowers from her and set them aside, then pulled her up out of her chair and into his arms. "I know how much you miss Prim, and it will be hard for you to learn to live without her, but remember that I will be right here with you to help you through it."

"Thank you." she whispered, trying to hold back her tears. She didn't want to cry any more.

He just held her tight for a while, until she let go of him when she was ready.

Only then did Peeta speak again.

"Why don't you start packing up your stuff. The sooner we are all packed, the sooner we can get on that train and I can take you home. Okay?"

She nodded her head and smiled gratefully, then set to work picking up their clothes all around the room and piling them on the bed to pack. She figured that once she got her clothes in here all packed, she would go across the hall to her suite and get the rest of her stuff, and then they'd be just about done.

Later that afternoon, after she and Peeta had both showered and they'd had lunch together and they were mostly packed up and ready to go, she told Peeta that she was going to see Gale and find out if he would be coming home with them today or if he would catch the next train back tomorrow. She assumed that Gale was probably dying to get the hell out of the capitol just as much as she was.

Katniss walked towards Gale's room and was surprised to see him returning to his own door at the same time.

"Oh, hey Gale. I was just coming to talk to you. Where are you coming from?"

"I had some stuff I needed to take care of." he told her. "Come on in, I wanted to talk to you too."

He let her in the room, then he followed her in and shut the door behind them. As she walked into Gale's room, she noticed right away that he hadn't picked anything up yet. All his clothes were still out, his bed was unmade.

"Gale, why haven't you started packing your stuff yet? I figured you'd be the first one ready to leave! I was coming over to see if you were taking the train back with us today, but you don't look like you'll be ready in time."

Gale sighed.

"Come here, sit down with me." he instructed, patting the bed next to him where he wanted her to sit.

She obediently sat down and looked up at him.

Gale took a deep breath, then started.

"Katniss, I'm not going home with you."

"Oh... are you coming tomorrow then?" she asked.

"No. Not tomorrow either." he paused. "Not ever. I'm staying here."

She stood up quickly.

"_What?" _she cried. "What the hell are you talking about Gale? You _hate _the capitol! Why would you stay here?"

Gale tried to stay calm, and tried to calm her down too.

"Please just sit down and listen to me." he pleaded.

She sat back down, but her eyes were a mixture of anger and sadness and confusion.

Gale took both of her hands in his.

"I am so sorry, Katniss, but I can't go back with you. I can't live there in the Victor's Village with you and Peeta and watch you live your happy married life and pretend that I'm okay with it. I'm happy for you that you have the life that you want, but I am only so strong, and I just can't watch you live it every day, when it's not the life that _I _want."

Her eyes started to fill with tears at what he was saying.

"But Gale, you're my _best_ _friend_. I need you! I want you to come home!"

"Katniss, it's not right to covet another man's wife, and that is what I would be feeling all the time. It's not fair to Peeta, and it's not fair to you or to me. I need some time and some distance, so I can go back to being your best friend, because right now I can't be a good friend to you like this."

Now the tears freely fell from her eyes, and she leaned into Gale, holding onto him tightly.

"I'm so sorry Gale!" she sobbed. "I hate that you are hurting so much, and it's my fault!"

"Shhh. It's no one's fault. It just is what it is. One day, you and I will be fine... we'll still be best friends, but we won't be hurting each other. We just need to get through some changes, that's all."

"What are you going to do Gale?" she asked, between her gasps as she cried.

"I knew I couldn't just go home and sit around with nothing to do, I'd go crazy. At your wedding reception, I had a good conversation with your friend Mr. Harrington, and he offered me a job here. At first I didn't take the offer very seriously, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like I should take him up on his offer."

"Doing what? I don't even know what _he _does here."

"Mr. Harrington is in charge of all the imports and exports between all the districts and the capitol. He and I had gotten to talking about how he walked you down the aisle, and he asked how you had lost your father. I explained to him how we had both lost our fathers in the mine explosion. That led to a discussion of how I felt that working conditions in our district are unsafe and poorly managed, and he was very receptive. He said he could use someone to go out to all the districts and assess the working conditions in the various mines and mills and factories and report back to him if there are changes that can be made, to make things safer and more efficient. After all, better safety and efficiency means more workers and more money for the capitol. So that's where I was this morning. I went to see Mr. Harrington and talk some more about his offer."

"So you'll be traveling between the districts all the time?" she asked.

"Well, a lot of the time, yes. I'll even be in district 12 sometimes."

"Is this really what you want to do Gale?"

"This is my chance to do something good, Katniss, and I can help make sure that what happened to us doesn't happen to someone else's family."

She started crying again, partly because she was proud of Gale, but mostly because she selfishly didn't want him away from her.

"When will I see you again?" she asked.

"I don't know for sure, but it won't be too long." he assured her, as he held her close and rubbed her back. "I'll be there sometimes for work, and I'll be home sometimes to see my family, and I'll have my house in the Village if I want to come visit, and of course there are all the things that I'm obligated to, just like you... the Victory Tour, the reaping, mentoring... so you'll see me plenty."

She stayed with her head on his shoulder, weeping as he held her.

"I'm proud of you, but I'll miss you _so much._ Today was already going to be hard enough for me, having to go home without Prim, but now, I have to go home without you too... I don't know if I can do it Gale!"

"Of course you can." Gale soothed her, stroking her hair. "You are the strongest person I know. You're an Everdeen, right?" he asked her with a soft smile.

She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked in his familiar gray eyes.

"So are you, Gale, remember?" she said, placing her hand on his heart and smiling at their little inside joke about being cousins. He moved one of his hands on top of hers as it rested there on his chest.

"There will _always_ be some Everdeen in my heart." he whispered back to her.

With his other hand that wasn't holding hers, he reached up to her face and softly wiped away the tears that had left wet streaks down her cheeks.

"Please don't cry for me Katniss. I'll be fine and so will you. This isn't goodbye forever, it's just a change... something I need to do for myself, that's all."

She nodded, but she knew that this was more than just a bittersweet goodbye or a new adventure. This was a huge shift in the dynamic of their relationship.

A few more silent tears fell from her eyes, and Gale wiped them away, then left his hand there, cupping her face, only a few inches from his own.

"_Gale...oh, Gale..." _she whispered sadly, unable to think of anything else to say.

The sound of her sighing his name like that made Gale want desperately to kiss her right now, but he wasn't going to ask for it. She was married now, and he wasn't going to ask her to do anything that she might regret later.

He watched as Katniss took hold of his hand that rested on her cheek, and just as she had the other morning in bed, she brought Gale's hand to her mouth and she kissed his palm. Only this time she _did_ want him to feel her love for him. She suddenly wished that she could give him the one thing he had asked her for the other day...that she could kiss his mouth, to show him how much she cared about him, how much she would miss him, but she couldn't. So she did the only thing she could, by kissing the scars on his palm, and then kissed him again on the inside of his wrist.

She heard Gale's breath quicken a little from the feel of her mouth on his skin, and he closed his eyes.

Her heart pounded with a thousand different emotions, but most of all, she was overcome by her realization of how much she was going to miss her best friend. She had always felt safe knowing that Gale was never far away from her, but now he wouldn't be there anymore.

She moved both of her hands up to the sides of Gale's face. He opened his eyes and looked at her with that look...dark, smoldering, _pleading. _She felt his arms wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him as they sat together on his bed.

They leaned in towards each other, as if they were being pulled by some magnetic force, until their foreheads were touching and they were nose to nose. Her hands trembled with her indecision. She _wanted _to kiss him goodbye, but she knew she shouldn't.

Gale could feel her hands shaking as she held them to his face. He swallowed, then he moved his hands from around her waist and brought them up to grasp both of her wrists gently.

"Don't." he whispered.

"_What?" _she asked, confused.

"Don't kiss me Katniss. You'll regret it the minute you walk out that door."

"I won't regret it." she whispered, barely audible, her face still touching his.

"Yes you will." Gale said softly. "Believe me, I want you to kiss me more than I've ever wanted anything, but I know you. If you do it, you will feel guilty, you'll tell Peeta, he will be hurt and angry with both of us... I can't let you live with that. Just hug me goodbye instead, okay? It's enough for me to know that you wanted to."

Gale stared into her eyes as held onto her wrists. This was exactly why he needed to do what he was doing by staying behind. It had taken every ounce of restraint in his body to resist pulling her face those last few millimeters closer and passionately delving into her mouth with his tongue, crossing that fine line between loving her as his best friend and loving her in the sexual way. There was just too much temptation when he was close to her. He didn't want to keep putting her in the position where she might be tempted to be unfaithful to the man she loved and had just married. Gale wanted to be a better person than that, and he knew that Katniss wanted that for herself too.

She threw her arms around his shoulders and buried her face into the side of his neck. She ran her fingers through his hair with one hand. She never wanted to forget what Gale felt like, what he smelled like. She considered that this could have been her future, if she hadn't fallen in love with Peeta.

She stayed there for a minute with her face pressed against his skin, breathing in his scent. She could feel Gale's pulse in the side of his neck where her face was touching. Finally, she lifted her head a little, so that they were cheek to cheek and her mouth was next to his ear.

"Goodbye Gale." she whispered hoarsely. "I have to go now."

She let go of him and pulled away from his embrace so fast, that when it happened, Gale couldn't even be certain that it had really happened or if it was just his imagination... but as she pulled her face away from his, Gale was _sure_ that he'd felt her lips brush across his ever so slightly for just one fraction of a second before she turned and rushed out the door, shutting it quickly behind her.

Katniss ran back to her own suite across the hall from where Peeta was waiting for her to return. She needed a few minutes alone to pull herself together. She didn't want him to see her bawling her eyes out over Gale. She went into her room, shut and locked the door, then slid her back down the door and sat down leaning against it. She let herself cry for a few minutes until her little emotional storm had passed. She felt better afterward. She went into her bathroom and splashed some cool water on her face, then took a few deep, cleansing breaths.

She hated to admit it, but Gale was right. They needed some separation, if she wanted to keep both her marriage _and_ her friendship intact.

When she felt calm and ready, she took one more look around her suite to make sure she had gotten everything she'd brought with her, then she left the room to return to Peeta's. When she opened the door, Peeta had his back to her, zipping his suit and her wedding dress into a garment bag that was hanging on the closet door.

"Hey, baby!" he greeted her, without turning around. "Gale ready to go?"

"No. He's not coming." she replied quietly.

Peeta turned around and noticed right away that her eyes were all red, like she'd been crying. He rushed to her side and took her in his arms.

"Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly.

"He said... he just _can't_ go back." she answered. "He doesn't want to live in the Village with us."

She went on to explain how Gale would be staying behind and starting a new job working for Mr. Harrington, and how Gale had said that this was just something he needed to do for himself. She left out the part about how the biggest reason he needed to do this was because of his feelings for her, and how he just couldn't watch them be happily married every day. She figured that Peeta could probably fill in the blanks himself if he thought about it.

And he did. He knew _exactly_ what Gale's motives were with this decision. Peeta smiled softly at Katniss.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I am finally starting to see the greatness in Gale that you've seen all along."

"What do you mean?" she asked, totally confused. How could Peeta be admiring a man who was in love with his wife?

"I always thought that Gale was kind of arrogant...like he felt that you were _his_ property and I was stealing something that belonged to him. But lately, I've seen that Gale is a lot more selfless than I've given him credit for. He's made no secret of how much he loves you, and I will be honest and admit that sometimes it has bothered me, like when I watch the two of you with your own unspoken language. You probably don't even realize that you do it, but you two have this ability to communicate without even speaking. It's remarkable, really. It used to bother me, but now I've sort of gotten used to it, that it's just a part of who you are."

Katniss hadn't really ever thought about it, but it was probably true. She and Gale used to hunt for hours in total sync with each other, but never having to speak a word.

Peeta continued his explanation.

"Gale gained my respect when I watched him with Prim, and it was so obvious that he really would have sacrificed his life for you if he could have, so you could have your sister back. And now, don't you see what he's doing, Katniss? This is his way of giving you up. He is letting you go so that you can have a life with me, and he is spared the pain of watching you be happy with someone other than himself. I hope that Gale is able to find happiness here, I really do. He deserves it."

Katniss nodded, then hugged him tightly, amazed by how intuitive and understanding Peeta always was.

"I hope so too." she agreed.

"Come on, let's head for the train station so we can go home." Peeta said.

When they arrived at the station with their suitcases, there were many people they knew who would also be making the trip home with them- Katniss' mother, Peeta's parents, Gale's family, Haymitch, Madge Undersee and her father the mayor. There were also a few who were staying behind but had gathered there to say goodbye. She hugged Effie and Cinna and Portia, then at the very end, she got to Gale and Mr. Harrington. She was trying hard not to cry.

She hugged Mr. Harrington first.

"Goodbye, and thank you for everything." she told him. "Please take care of Gale for me."

"I will, darling. Don't worry about Gale. Your dear friend is destined to do great things."

Katniss looked at him quizzically. She wondered how he knew that they weren't really related.

Mr. Harrington spoke very quietly to her.

"I know he's not your cousin, dear. I see how he looks at you. But he _is _very much like you, and that is how I know that he will be successful. He is going to make life better for other people. You should be proud of him."

"I am. Gale always stands up for what he believes in." she answered.

"Just like you, Katniss. Now you go home and have a happy life with your husband! I'll look forward to the next time you lovebirds are in the capitol!" His eyes crinkled as he smiled at her.

She hugged him one more time before moving on to Gale for one last goodbye.

There was so much she wanted to say, but words seemed to escape her at the moment.

She just held out her arms and Gale pulled her in for a big, warm hug.

"Take care of yourself Gale. I'll look after your family while you're not there."

"Thank you, I appreciate that. Have a safe trip home. I'll see you soon, I promise." he told her, as he released her from his arms.

Peeta approached Gale next, and shook his hand.

"Good luck Gale. And thank you for everything you've done for her... for both of us."

"You're welcome." Gale said. "Just take good care of her. She loves you."

"I will." Peeta promised.

He let go of Gale's hand, and walked back over to Katniss who was thanking Cinna one last time. Peeta put his arm around her back.

"Come on," he said softly. "It's time."

He led her onto the train and they sat down. Katniss sat next to the window so she could look out and wave goodbye. It was such a bittersweet moment for her. She was so happy to be going home with Peeta, but so sad to be leaving behind so many people she cared about, most of all Gale.

As the train started to pull away, she stayed focused on Gale. She kissed her fingertips, then raised her hand to the window, as if blowing him a kiss. He did the same in return. She watched him until they rounded the bend and he was out of sight.

Then she snuggled down into the crook of Peeta's arm, with her head on his shoulder.

He kissed the side of her forehead.

"Let's go home." he said, leaning his head against hers.


	33. Chapter 33

FOURTEEN MONTHS LATER

Katniss was so excited, she could hardly stand it.

Gale was coming home for a visit today. He had kept his word, and he'd been home about every other month and he always made time to see her. And then, of course, there had been his Victory Tour. After that, she and Peeta and Gale had all been together for the reaping and for this year's Hunger Games as mentors. Fortunately the tributes this year were no one that they knew, because neither one survived. District 12's winning streak was over.

It had been horrible for Katniss, just as she knew it would be. She despised having to be a mentor. She kept having flashbacks of last year, watching Prim and Gale fight for their lives. Her stomach was constantly upset from the stress, her nightmares had returned, she felt worn out all the time from not sleeping. She was relieved when it was finally over once again... at least until next year. The only good thing was that the President had a new victor to torment, so he kind of left them alone now for the most part.

Over the course of the past year, now that they no longer saw each other as rivals, Gale and Peeta had slowly forged their own friendship, which consisted of a lot of good natured sarcasm and making fun of each other. Katniss was just grateful to see them getting along, because they were both so important to her.

It had only been about two months since she'd last seen Gale, when they said goodbye again when the Games ended and she returned home with Peeta. She was glad that Gale had looked well, and that he said he was enjoying doing the work he did with Mr. Harrington.

But this visit was special, because for the first time, Gale was bringing a girl home with him, to introduce to his family and to her and Peeta. She could only assume that this girl was the reason Gale had seemed so happy the last few times she had seen him, and Katniss was dying to meet her.

As soon as they arrived at Katniss' door, she ran and gave Gale a huge bear hug.

"Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" she squealed.

"It's good to see you too!" he laughed. "Katniss, Peeta, this is my girlfriend, Cressida."

She was a pretty girl, the same age as Gale, with long, dark hair like Katniss, but with stunning green eyes.

"Welcome!" Katniss said, as she hugged Cressida too. "It is so great to meet you! I'm sure you must hear this a lot, but you have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen!"

"Thank you." Cressida said, smiling. "Gale says that too."

"Yeah, one look in those eyes when we first met, and I didn't stand a chance!" Gale agreed, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend's waist.

"Well, come on in!" Peeta said. "We are so excited to get to know you!"

"I am afraid that I have an unfair advantage, since I already feel like I know so much about you, from the combination of what Gale has told me, and from you being so famous in the capitol these last few years." Cressida said. "Your wedding last year was _so _lovely, by the way..._so_ romantic!"

"Oh, thank you." Peeta said. "We didn't expect to be getting married quite so suddenly, but it turned out to be a wonderful gift. I love being able to call her my wife."

He pulled Katniss to him and kissed her cheek.

"Come sit down at the table, guys. Dinner's almost ready." Katniss said.

Over dinner, Peeta and Katniss wanted to hear about how Gale and Cressida met.

Cressida started, "Well, I had _seen _Gale, of course, on television...I was so impressed, watching him with your sister during the Games. I thought he seemed like a very honorable, protective man. And during his interview afterward, when he said he was single and Caesar made that joke about having girls line up to date him- I was like, 'I want to get in that line!'"

Peeta and Katniss both giggled, and looked at Gale, who blushed a little.

"Then I saw him again at your wedding, and I just thought that he looked _so _handsome... But it was like when you see any other celebrity on television. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would _ever _really get to meet him!"

"So how did it happen?" Katniss asked.

Gale picked up the rest of the story from here.

"Cressida works for Mr. Harrington too, but in a different department, so we had never actually met each other. In fact, she didn't even know that I worked there, until one day about six months ago, I was about to leave for an assignment, when the guy who usually goes with me when I travel out to the districts came down with the flu. So, at the last minute, Mr. Harrington sent Cressida to go with me instead, and the second we met, it was like sparks flew."

Peeta and Katniss squeezed each other's hand as they watched Gale and Cressida glance at each other and smile.

"I couldn't stop thinking about how pretty she was, and that she seemed very friendly and outgoing. That evening," Gale continued, "Instead of having dinner alone at the hotel, I asked her if she would like to join me, and we went out to a restaurant. We ended up sitting and talking until they closed the place down!"

"Gale was just so nice and so down to earth!" she explained. "He was so funny and smart and easy to talk to. I never wanted the night to end!"

"Neither did I!" Gale agreed. "I just sat there with her, lost in those green eyes the whole evening! I think we could have talked until sunrise if the restaurant hadn't kicked us out!"

They both laughed.

"Then we had dinner again the next night, and the night after that." she said.

"Finally on that third night, I walked her back to her room and I kissed her goodnight, and it was like magic...I just knew that I had found someone really special." Gale said.

"Oh my gosh, that is such a sweet story!" Katniss gushed. "Love at first sight!"

"Yeah," Peeta agreed. "Much more romantic than how our story started out..." he chuckled. "Try explaining to someone that you and your future wife were supposed to be trying to kill each other!"

"Yes, it will be a lovely story to tell our grandchildren someday!" Katniss quipped. "Instead of killing each other, we fell in love..."

All four of them laughed at the irony of just how ridiculous that sounded.

When they finished dinner, they moved out to the living room so they could sit more comfortably and continue their conversation. Peeta sat down in a big armchair, and Gale sat on the couch with Katniss on one side of him and Cressida on the other.

"So, Peeta," Cressida said, "Gale tells me that your bakery is quite well known, even with many people in the capitol!"

"Yeah, I've been lucky. Business has been going very well!" he replied.

Katniss chimed in, "It's more than just luck. He is a very talented baker, he's just too modest. Why don't you show her, Peeta?"

"Would you like to see the bakery, Cressida?" he asked.

"Yes, I'd love to!"

Peeta brought Cressida over to the bakery to give her the tour.

"You are our special guest, so you get to pick out anything you want from the bakery for us to have for dessert tonight. Come with me." he told her, with a bright smile.

He wanted to make her feel welcome in their home, but he also knew that Katniss would want a few minutes to visit with Gale alone, so this little trip next door served both purposes.

Once they were alone, Katniss looked at Gale and beamed him a huge smile. She grabbed his hand that was right next to hers and gave it a squeeze.

"She seems really nice Gale. I like her already! She must be very special to you, for you to bring her home."

"Yes, she_ is_ special to me. I still can't believe that I found someone as wonderful as she is. I love her Katniss...I really love her."

"Well, if you love her, then I love her. Thank you for sharing her with us." Katniss said.

She hugged her friend tightly.

"I have something to share with you too Gale." she said, as she lifted the bottom of her shirt and showed Gale her slightly rounded belly.

"Whoa, looks like someone's been eating a few too many of Peeta's desserts! Maybe you better stay out of the bakery for a while..." Gale teased.

Katniss whacked him on the arm.

"I'm not fat, you dumbass, I'm pregnant!"

Gale laughed heartily. "I know, I can see that. I was just kidding. I'm sorry!"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him.

"That's wonderful news, Katniss. Congratulations." he said, smiling warmly at her. "To be quite honest, I'm surprised that it took this long for you to get pregnant!"

"I was on birth control, Gale. One of the benefits of being a victor...having money and access to health care in the capitol. You can get anything you need. You know, you live there! Aren't you and your _girlfriend_ using some kind of birth control?" she asked with a smirk.

"Well, yes, but we _live_ in the capitol, so it's easy to get. You're only there once or twice a year." He paused for a moment. "Sooo... if you were on birth control, how are you pregnant?"

"It was a hard decision, but we chose to stop using it a while ago. For the longest time, I was adamant that I would never be a mother. I didn't want to bring a life into this world, but Peeta changed my mind. He wanted it so much... I couldn't say no to him, after everything he has done to make me happy."

"He must be so excited." Gale said.

"Yes, he is. He can't wait."

"And you? Are you excited for it?"

"Yeah, I actually am now. I'm kind of scared too, but Peeta's joy is contagious." she said with a smile.

"How far along are you?" he asked.

"A little over four months." she answered.

"Four months! So you were pregnant during the Games a couple of months ago, when we were mentoring and you didn't tell me then?"

"Well, I was, but I didn't know it yet. Remember how tired and nauseous I was all the time? I thought it was just stress and the memories of last year that were turning my stomach upside down, but it turns out it was actually morning sickness. With everything that was going on, it wasn't until we got back home that I realized how late I was. We went back to the capitol last month so I could see the doctor... Peeta insists on taking me there so I can have the best care for the baby. I wanted to tell you then, but you weren't there, you were away for work, so I decided to wait and tell you the next time I saw you."

Gale nodded, then he slid himself down off the couch so he could kneel next to her and be at eye level with her abdomen.

"May I?" he asked, as he reached his hand out to touch her belly.

She nodded and smiled.

Gale put one hand on top of the swell of her stomach, with his fingers spread apart, and softly rubbed his hand back and forth across her skin. For a minute, he just sat there gazing in amazement at her small, pregnant belly as he held his hand there. Katniss found it very sweet and touching, because Peeta often did the same thing.

Gale finally broke the comfortable silence between them, but stayed right where he was.

"Do you know what it is yet? A boy or a girl?" he asked.

"No. We aren't going to find out. It's going to be a surprise."

"Oh, that's nice. There aren't enough happy surprises like that in life." Gale agreed.

"But whatever it is," she continued, "boy or girl, its middle name will be Gale."

Gale looked up at her in surprise.

"Really?" he asked, very touched by her decision.

"Yes, really."

"Does Peeta know that?" Gale asked sarcastically.

"Yes, of course he does, smartass. We decided it together."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." he said sincerely.

Gale smiled at her, then he lowered his face closer to her belly so he could talk to the baby.

"Hi baby!" Gale said sweetly. "You don't know me yet, but I'm your Uncle Gale!"

"_Uncle Gale?" _Katniss laughed. "Are you kidding me?"

"I happen to _like_ the sound of that." Gale said proudly. Then he returned his attention back to her belly. "Anyway, baby, you are very lucky. You have two parents who are going to love you _so _much. And if they ever tell you that you can't have something, you come see me and I'll get it for you!"

"Great." Katniss frowned. "You're already spoiling my kid before it's even born!"

"It's a tough job being the 'cool uncle' but someone's got to do it."

She just smiled at her best friend, happy that they had come so far from where they were a year ago.

Gale was thinking the same thing. He said softly, "You know, Katniss, if you had asked me two or three years ago to picture the future, I would have envisioned a scene just like this, with me touching your belly as I am now, except that I would have said that in my picture, you were _my _wife, and this was _my_ baby growing in your belly... But now that I've seen how our story works out, I think I can say that everything happened just the way it was supposed to."

"Yeah, I would say that too." she replied, putting her hand on top of his, which still rested on her belly. "Do you think that you could see yourself having a family someday with Cressida?"

"I think so." Gale answered, his whole face radiating love. "I think she just might be _'the one'_."

"Oh, Gale, I'm so happy for you! Come here!" she said, reaching out for him with her arms outstretched. Gale got back up next to her on the couch and held her in a big, warm hug.

Just a moment later, Cressida came walking back in with Peeta, who was carrying a beautiful cake for dessert.

"Hey, Peeta!" Gale yelled out across the room, with a wicked grin on his face. "Your wife here tells me that her favorite baker _finally _put a bun in her oven!"

Katniss rolled her eyes at his terrible joke.

Cressida's face lit up and she rushed to sit next to Katniss and congratulate her on the news.

Peeta laughed and blushed a little.

"Yeah, it took a while to convince her!" Peeta shot back, as he set down the cake on the table.

Gale got up, walked over to Peeta, shook his hand and then pulled him in for a hug, clapping him on the back.

"Well, it's about damn time! I was beginning to wonder if you had it in you... or more accurately, if you had it in _her!"_ Gale laughed hard at his own joke.

"_Gale!" _Cressida gasped with wide open eyes, mortified by Gale's crass comment.

"It's okay, Cressida." Katniss assured her, "This is just how they are."

"Fuck off, Hawthorne!" Peeta laughed, playfully giving Gale a shove.

"See what I mean?" Katniss said to Cressida.

Katniss looked up at her husband and her best friend laughing together, and she was so grateful that everything had worked out okay, just as Gale had promised it would a year ago. She was so happy to have Gale by her side to share this exciting news with.

And five months later, she had her best friend by her side again. When the time grew near for the baby to come, Peeta had insisted that they go to the hospital in the capitol, so she and the baby could have the best medical care.

Gale was the very first person she called to come visit when Primrose Gale Mellark was born.

He walked in the room, holding hands with Cressida, and carrying a big vase full of pink flowers in his other hand.

Katniss was sitting up in her hospital bed, holding the baby swaddled in her arms. She lit up with a huge smile as soon as she saw them walk in.

Gale paused to set down the flowers he brought her, and Peeta reached down to Katniss and carefully scooped up the cooing baby. He walked her over to Gale, and proudly placed his baby daughter in his arms. After having watched him in the arena, being so protective of Katniss' sister, Peeta felt that there was probably no one in the world, other than her own proud parents, that he would trust more with his little girl than Gale.

"Meet Primrose Gale." Peeta said to him.

"Oh, she's _beautiful!"_ Gale gushed. He softly touched the few sparse little blond curls on the top of her head.

"Look at that, she's blond like you, Peeta." Gale observed.

"And like Prim." Katniss said.

"Yeah..." Gale sighed, in the bittersweet memory of her sister. "And like Prim. I guess the name fits perfectly, doesn't it?"

Jut then, the baby opened her eyes a little and stretched out her tiny hand, which Gale held with one finger.

"She's got her Momma's gray eyes." he said, looking at Katniss and smiling. "Congratulations, you guys. You must be overjoyed!"

"We are!" Peeta said, sitting on the bed next to his wife with his arm around her.

"Not to steal your thunder," Gale said, glancing sideways at Cressida, "but we have some happy news of our own!"

"What? Tell me!" Katniss pleaded.

Gale smiled at Cressida.

"Why don't you _show_ her instead?" he said with a smirk.

Cressida walked closer to where Peeta and Katniss were sitting, and held out her left hand. On her third finger was a dazzling ring, a sparkling oval shaped emerald, with a smaller, triangle shaped diamond on each side of it.

"Gale proposed to me last week!" she said excitedly.

"Wow!" Katniss exclaimed, as she reached out and held Cressida's hand to admire her ring. "Holy shit, Gale, they must pay you _well _here! This ring is gorgeous!"

"Yeah, between my winnings and what Mr. Harrington pays me, I do okay for myself." he smiled, as he rocked baby Primrose in his arms. "I chose an emerald because it reminded me of her beautiful green eyes, and I always liked that you had a colored stone for your engagement ring. It has so much more personality than just a plain diamond."

"Hey, you stole my idea!" Peeta said, in mock irritation.

"Well, every once in a while you have a good one, Mellark." Gale teased. Then he looked down at the baby he was cradling. "This little one here was a good idea too. I could just look at her all day." Gale said.

"Yeah, I could too." Peeta agreed. "She's only a few hours old and she's already got me wrapped around her finger."

Katniss reached up and hugged Cressida.

"Congratulations on your engagement you two! This is such exciting news! What a happy day!"

"Thank you!" Cressida said warmly, as she walked back over to Gale and stood up on her toes to give him a kiss. Then she said to her fiance, "Are you gonna let anyone else hold that baby today?"

"Aww, do I _have_ to?" Gale asked, grinning. Then he gently handed baby Prim off to Cressida.

Cressida cooed at the baby, as she sat down in the rocking chair near where Gale was standing, and rocked the sleeping infant in her arms.

"Look at that, Gale. She's a natural!" Peeta said.

Cressida turned to look up at Gale.

"Oh, I want one too!" she said, clearly smitten with the pretty baby girl.

"Uh oh!" Peeta teased. "You better hurry up and marry her, Gale, before it's a shotgun wedding!"

The four of them laughed, and little Primrose slept right through it all.

Katniss looked around the room, and was so thankful for all the blessings in her life. She had everything she could ever wish for... She had Gale, who was once again her best friend, and he was happy and in love with his wonderful fiancee. She had Peeta, who she loved with all her heart. And she even had one little gift that she hadn't even _known_ she wanted, but now, she already wondered how she had ever lived without... her new baby daughter.

She realized that she was no longer the girl on fire... she was just Katniss, the baker's wife, and she had _everything _she desired.

THE END

**Author's note- Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed my story, even though it got so long! I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**And of course, all the credit really goes to author Suzanne Collins, whose fabulous characters I borrowed and took creative license with for this story.**

_**-belladonnablush**_


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